Performance of Cement Paste with Denitrified Fly Ash Containing NH4HSO4

Abstract

The denitrification process was completed in coal-fired power plants, resulting in the fly ash containing NH4HSO4. When this kind of fly ash with ammonia was applied to cement and concrete, there could be phenomena such as a retarded setting time, decreased compressive strength, and volume expansion. This paper mainly investigated the influence of fly ash containing NH4HSO4 on the properties of fly ash cement paste, and pastes with NaHSO4 were set as the control samples. The research on Na+ in cement hydration was studied. The influence of NH4HSO4 content in fly ash on the properties of fly ash cement paste was also investigated. It was found that NH4+ could greatly affect the properties of fly ash cement paste, such as significantly reducing the fluidity, prolonging the setting time, decreasing the compressive strength, increasing the drying shrinkage, decreasing the total heat released during the hydration, and affecting the content of calcium hydroxide hydrate. Increasing the ammonia content of the denitrified fly ash would reduce fluidity, retard its setting time, increase the porosity of the cement stone, and increase the number of pores with large sizes in the fly ash cement paste. The increase of porosity and pores with large sizes in cement decreases the compressive strength and increases the drying shrinkage of the fly ash cement paste.