Assessing the pozzolanic activity of cements with added sugar cane straw ash by synchrotron X-ray diffraction and Rietveld analysis

• Sustainability is the key word in the development of new technologies.
• The use of alternative materials in the cement paste is focused.
• Cement pastes and cement pastes blended with Sugar Cane Straw Ashes were studied.
• Our findings contribute in the phase identifications of cementitious pastes.
• The pozzolanicity of the agroindustrial wastes was proven using synchrotron radiation.

Sugar and alcohol industries generate large amount of wastes that could produce ashes of great reactivity with pozzolan properties. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the pozzolanicity of Sugar Cane Straw Ashes (SCSA), thermal treated, at different curing times. Employing Synchrotron X-ray radiation for XRD measurements, scans from 10°10° to 110°110° (θ-2θθ-2θ setup) allowed the quantification of several phases of the cement pasts through Rietveld analysis. The SCSA substitution of 20% (weight) in Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) has improved the AFt (Ettringite) formation up to 47% for 90 days curing time. The Portlandite concentration analysis allowed concluding that this addition of SCSA in OPC has caused a delay in the cement setting time. Moreover, the behaviour of the C3S and Calcite contents in both OPC and OPC/SCSA samples were determined by refinement of the XRD pattern using the Rietveld method.