Use of Wood Biomass Ash in Prefabricated Concrete Elements

Despite the many advantages of biomass energy, especially wood biomass, its combustion generates large amounts of waste - wood biomass ash (WBA). Due to excellent chemical, physical and mineralogical properties of WBA, the sustainability of the precast concrete industry can be improved by using alternative supplementary-cementitious materials (SCM), using WBA as a partial replacement for cement and fine aggregates in low-carbon building materials and products. But, the complex characteristics of each WBA, which depend on the type of wood biomass and combustion technologies used in biomass power plants, as well as the lack of technical and legal regulations, present challenges in converting WBA into a secondary raw material. Therefore, the promotion of recycling, i.e. the transformation of waste from one industry - the energy sector - into raw materials from another industry - the concrete industry - contributes to the realization of the principles of the circular economy.