Alternative Sustainable Binder for Concrete Construction: Wood Ash As a Cement Replacement

The use of waste materials in concrete production has been highly encouraged recently to minimize the environmental problems.Portland cement is a high energy-intensive constituent material that contributes to CO2 emissions.Local waste materials are trending in concrete production due to shorter transportation distances that do not contribute to eCO2 emissions.Wood ash is one of the available wastes in Cyprus which is potentially disposed of through landfill.This study aimed to several various engineering properties (slump, bulk density, compressive strength, water permeability) performances of concrete mixes made with 95% Portland cement (PC) and 5% wood ash (WA) for 28 d target design strengths of 30 MPa and 45 MPa.In addition, further assessment was established to investigate the potential sustainability performance of the laboratory mixes from environmental (eCO2 emissions), economic and social (thermal conductivity and sound permeability) point of view.Studies of engineering properties, comprising slump, compressive strength and water permeability, showed either similar or slightly improved performances for WA mixes compared to PC mixes, while WA addition increased bulk density.Concerning sustainability performance, WA use decreased eCO2 emissions compared to conventional mixes.Social sustainability indicators had also enhanced performances for WA mixes indicating an encouraging approach for lower impact concrete production.