Ground-Glass Pozzolans: An Urban Mining Strategy Towards Sustainable and Low-Carbon Concrete

Overview of the Talk

The concrete construction sector is continually seeking new sources of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to augment the Portland cement, fly ash, slag cement, and silica fume used in modern concrete mixtures, to not only improve the mechanical and durability performance of concrete but also to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete construction.  As traditional SCMs are becoming increasingly difficult to come by, extensive research and testing have shown that several types of ground glass will perform well as alternate pozzolans in concrete.  Supported by the results from past research studies and field experience, ASTM Subcommittee C09.24, on Supplementary Cementitious Materials, has authored ASTM C1866/C1866M-20, “Standard Specification for Ground-Glass Pozzolan for Use in Concrete.  This presentation will provide background information on glass-based pozzolans in terms of their composition,  processing and as well as their role in the performance of fresh and hardened properties of concrete.  The presentation will also present the impact of ground-glass pozzolans on the carbon footprint of concrete and discuss the future of ground-glass pozzolans as viable SCMs for the concrete industry.