Sugar cane bagasse ash (SCBA) is generated as a combustion by-product from boilers of sugar and alcohol factories. Composed mainly of silica, this by-product can be used as a mineral admixture in concrete. In this investigation, conventional and high-performance concretes
(CCs and HPCs, respectively) were produced with 0, 10, 15, and 20% of a residual ultra-fine SCBA as cement replacement (in mass). For these concretes, rheological, mechanical, durability, and adiabatic calorimetric tests were performed. The results indicate that the mechanical properties of concretes were not significantly changed by the use of SCBA for all levels of replacement. The ultra-fine SCBA concretes presented superior performance in the rheological, water sorption capillary, and rapid chloride-ion permeability tests as compared with the reference mixture. The maximum adiabatic temperature rise of CC substantially decreased (11%) by replacement of 15% of cement by ultra-fine SCBA.
