New Coal Ash Use: Strong, Lightweight Alternative to Concrete Without Cement

摘要

Each year, coal-burning power plants, steel factories and similar facilities in the United States produce more than 125 million tons of waste, much of it fly and bottom ash left from combustion. Mulalo Doyoyo has plans for that material. An assistant professor in Georgia Tech's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Doyoyo has developed a structural material based on leftovers from coal burning. Cenocell is high-strength and lightweight-without cement, an essential ingredient of conventional concrete. With broad potential applications and advantages such as good insulating properties and fire resistance, the green material could replace concrete, wood and other materials in construction, transportation and aerospace applications.