Abstract

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from industrial processes contribute largely to the greenhouse effect and climate change. One of these industries is the cement industry, which contributes around 8% of CO₂ emissions caused by mankind. Two promising and interesting ways to reduce CO₂ emission are the utilization of alternative cementitious materials and carbon capture and utilization through CO₂ mineralization. In this study, peat-wood fly ashes from fluidized bed combustion were used as a construction material for mineral carbonation. A self-hardening characteristic of this type of fly ash was utilized, and simultaneous carbonation and hydration reactions were studied. The study showed that fly ashes from the fluidized bed combustion of peat and wood could be used to capture and mineralize CO₂ during hydration reactions. At the same time, CO₂ could improve the strength of self-hardened fly ashes. One interesting future possibility is fly ash tile production at energy plants: fly ashes can be used to capture CO₂ from flue gases, thus improving the strength of produced tiles.