Addressing Fly Ash Shortage with Limestone Calcined Clay Cement

About the project:

The wide availability of high-quality and economical supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) has been significantly strained over the last decade due to the steep decline of fly ash production. Woefully, this problem will be exacerbated in the future as coal-based energy production diminishes. Consequently, there is a dire need for alternatives to fly ash. Limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) is a novel ternary cementitious system that is promising for the future of durable and sustainable concrete materials. LC3 is commonly produced by intergrounding and blending clinker, limestone, calcined clay (CC), and gypsum at the cement plant. Nonetheless, LC3-like systems can also be simply produced at the ready-mix plant by blending Portland limestone cement (PLC) and CC. These PLC/CC systems are referred to as LC2. Importantly, LC2 and LC3 systems are economical and widely accessible as the raw materials required to produce them are among the most abundant on earth’s crust. Furthermore, LC2 and LC3 have the potential to deliver similar mechanical properties and environmental benefits to cementitious systems incorporating fly ash or slag cement. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of novel LC2 and LC3 systems for concrete materials in Virginia as an alternative to cementitious systems incorporating conventionally used SCMs such as fly ash and slag cement.

Project Team

Co-Principal Investigators

Other Investigators