Abstract

In many emerging economies, the impact of fly ash utilization for mass concrete applications considering industry practices is yet to be quantified. This study quantifies the environmental and economic impacts of fly ash utilization in mass concrete, considering different mix design strategies in actual practice. Thirty-one (31) concrete mixtures from batching plants in the Philippines with 28-day strength design of 13.8–69.0 MPa have been analyzed using life cycle assessment (LCA) in SimaPro 9.3. Results show that when cement is replaced by 10, 15, and 20% of fly ash by weight, the global warming potential values are reduced by 8.5–9.4%, 8.5–20.7%, and 2.4–19.2%, respectively. Increased fly ash replacement shows a more beneficial impact on normal to high-strength than low-strength concrete mixtures in all 18 midpoint categories. Contribution analysis shows that aggregates significantly affect land use, while admixture affects marine eutrophication. A comparative LCA with mixtures from Thailand suggests that designing the compressive strength of fly ash concrete at 56 days will significantly improve its sustainability compared to a 28-day design. The economic benefit of using fly ash is greater for high-strength than for low-strength mixtures. This study will contribute to improving the sustainability of mass concrete production and benefit countries with similar practices.

中文翻译：

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考虑行业实践，揭示粉煤灰利用对大体积混凝土的环境和经济影响

摘要

在许多新兴经济体中，考虑到行业实践，粉煤灰利用对大体积混凝土应用的影响尚未量化。本研究量化了大体积混凝土中粉煤灰利用的环境和经济影响，考虑了实际实践中不同的配合比设计策略。使用 SimaPro 9.3 中的生命周期评估 (LCA) 对菲律宾搅拌站的三十一 (31) 种混凝土混合物进行了分析，其 28 天强度设计为 13.8–69.0 MPa。结果表明，当水泥被重量比为10%、15%和20%的粉煤灰替代时，全球变暖潜值分别降低8.5%~9.4%、8.5%~20.7%和2.4%~19.2%。在所有 18 个中点类别中，增加粉煤灰替代量对普通至高强度混凝土混合物的影响比低强度混凝土混合物更有利。贡献分析表明，骨料显着影响土地利用，而混合料则影响海洋富营养化。与泰国混合物的比较 LCA 表明，与 28 天的设计相比，将粉煤灰混凝土的抗压强度设计为 56 天将显着提高其可持续性。使用粉煤灰作为高强度混合物的经济效益比低强度混合物更大。这项研究将有助于提高大体积混凝土生产的可持续性，并使具有类似做法的国家受益。