Small addition effect of agave biomass ashes in cement mortars

• Agave biomass ash properties vary depending on the combustion temperature.
• The amount of waste will be comparable to other residues used as byproducts.
• The surface area increases with the ashing temperature.
• Agave biomass ash small additions increase early age strength.

The use of industrial waste for the production of biomass is a topic that has gained increasing interest. This is due to the need to use plants that do not affect the food supply when used for power generation from biomass. Agave salmiana residues meet these characteristics. It has now been proposed as a possible source of bioenergy production because of its growth characteristics. Therefore, in this research, the effect of combustion temperature of the A. salmiana as it could happen in the energy production was studied. In addition, the characteristics of these residues were analyzed to serve as a basis for possible future applications in construction materials. Results indicate that the ashes are mainly CaCO3 when calcined at below 700 °C, and CaO above this temperature. The apparent particle size was between 25 and 32 μm. However, it is observed that it consists of much smaller particles of approximately 300 nm. This reduction in size is related to decomposition at higher temperatures and is reflected in the increase of the specific area up to 70%. The compression strength at early ages was up to 90% higher than a reference, when 5% cement replacement mixes were performed.