Performance evaluation of carbonated cement paste derived from hydrated Portland cement based binders as supplementary cementitious material

The production of concrete has gone up from 2.3 billion m³ in 2002 to 14 billion m³ in 2020. At the same time, the amount of construction and demolition waste generated annually has reached levels of 3 billion tons, with concrete rubble making up a major portion of it. This study investigates the performance of carbonated fines derived from hydrated cement paste of different binders. Four cement paste blends, containing Portland cement (PC) and blends of Portland cement with fly ash (FA30), perlite (PL30) and metakaolin (MK30) at a 30 % cement replacement level, were cured for 90 days prior to subjecting them to a carbonation reaction. The R³ test gauged pozzolanic reactivity, while calorimetry, XRD, and TGA studied hydration characteristics. Compressive strength of mortar samples prepared using the same binder composition as paste was also measured at different ages. Carbonated fines exhibited notable pozzolanic activity compared to waste hydrated cement paste. The reactivity of carbonated fines derived from different binders were similar, however slightly higher reactivity was measured for fines comprising of reactive SCM in the precursor material (hydrated paste). Mixes with carbonated fines demonstrated enhanced kinetics, exhibiting over 25 % higher compressive strength at 3 and 7 days compared to the fly ash control mix. Similar compressive strength characteristics were observed in mortar mixes with different carbonated fines, indicating a limited impact of the various binder types from which the fines originated.