Valorization of sugarcane bagasse ash: Producing glass-ceramic materials

• We report a recycling method for valorization of sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA).
• The product is a glass-ceramic material with wollastonite as the major phase.
• This material shows special and important properties.
• The product can be of great value in the building construction industry.

Some aluminosilicates, for example mullite and wollastonite, are very important in the ceramic and construction industries. The most significant glass-ceramic for building applications has wollastonite as the main crystal phase. In this work we report on the use of sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) to produce glass-ceramics with silicates as the major crystalline phases. The glasses (frits) were prepared by mixing ash, limestone (calcium and magnesium carbonates) and potassium carbonate as the fluxing agent. X-ray fluorescence was used to determine the chemical composition of the glasses and their crystallization was assessed by using thermal analysis (DTA/DSC/TGA) and X-ray diffraction. The results showed that glass-ceramic material can be produced with wollastonite as the major phase, at a temperature lower than 900 °C.

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