ABSTRACT
Manufacturing of normal portland cement, a major ingredient in concrete industry contributes significantly to the CO2 emissions. The paper mentions briefly the efforts On part of Hindustan Construction Company Ltd, the leading Indian construction company; to advocate and maximize the use of fly ash as a supplementary cementitious material in concrete. The paper includes case study on use of High Volume Fly Ash Concrete incorporating 55% fly ash at Bandra Worli Sea Link Project in Mumbai and Self Compacting Concrete incorporating 45% fly ash at Rajasthan Atomic Power Project near Kota.
Of the many technical benefits, the most significant benefit of use of fly ash in concrete is enhancement of durability of concrete, due to almost nil permeability, which in turn increases the service life of the concrete. The other technical benefits associated with use of fly ash in concrete are contribution to increase in workability, reduction in heat of hydration and better sulphate/chloride resistance. The utilization of fly ash also reduces the consumption of cement in concrete thereby reducing its production to that amount.
Fly Ash concrete is a classic example for attaining sustainability in concrete construction alongwith the benefits of increasing the durability and service life of the structure.
