Effect of coal combustion fly ash use in concrete on the mass transport release of constituents of potential concern.

Abstract Concerns about the environmental safety of coal combustion fly ash use as a supplemental cementitious material have necessitated comprehensive evaluation of the potential for leaching concrete materials containing fly ash used as a cement replacement. Using concrete formulations representative of US residential and commercial applications, test monoliths were made without fly ash replacement (i.e., controls) and with 20% or 45% of the portland cement fraction replaced by fly ash from four coal combustion sources. In addition, microconcrete materials were created with 45% fly ash replacement based on the commercial concrete formulation but with no coarse aggregate and an increased fine aggregate fraction to maintain aggregate-paste interfacial area. All materials were cured for 3 months prior to mass transport-based leach testing of constituents of potential concern (i.e., Sb, As, B, Ba, Cd, Cr, Mo, Pb, Se, Tl and V) according to EPA Method 1315. The cumulative release results were consistent with previously tested samples of concretes and mortars from international sources. Of the 11 constituents tested, only Sb, Ba, B, Cr and V were measured in quantifiable amounts. Microconcretes without coarse aggregate were determined to be conservative surrogates for concrete in leaching assessment since cumulative release from microconcretes were only slightly greater than the associated concrete materials. Relative to control materials without fly ash, concretes and microconcretes with fly ash replacement of cement had increased 28-d and 63-d cumulative release for a limited number 10 comparison cases: 2 cases for Sb, 7 cases for Ba and 1 case for Cr. The overall results suggest minimal leaching impact from fly ash use as a replacement for up to 45% of the cement fraction in typical US concrete formulations; however, scenario-specific assessment based on this leaching evaluation should be used to determine if potential environmental impacts exist.