Low risk meat and bone meal (MBM) bottom ash in mortars as sand replacement

This paper presents the physical, chemical and mineralogical characteristics of meat and bone meal bottom ash (MBM-BA) from low-risk sources. It also gives a first evaluation, from a technical and an environmental point of view, of its potential of use as sand in cement-based materials. Results show that MBM-BA has the physical characteristics of a fine sand. It has low friability but high water absorption, which leads to a recommended use of less than 30% MBM-BA as sand replacement in mortars and the use of a superplasticizer. The compressive strength of mortar containing 17% of MBM-BA is similar to that of a reference mortar and the leaching behavior resembles that of the reference mortar without residue. These preliminary results lead us to believe that low-risk MBM-BA could be used in cement-based materials and present a promising way of reusing this residue.