With the Olympics just around the corner the developers for the Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Olympics are facing the task of completing the 34 venues and stadiums spread across the city by 2016. In 2013 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) agreed that the construction of the new venues needed to include by-products such as fly ash and achieve 100% local sustainability targets.

The main by-products used in the construction include fly ash, silica fume and iron and steel slags. When the UNEP created the guidelines for developers, researchers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro began testing the potential use of more locally available pozzolans such as sugar cane ash (bagasse ash), rice husk and believe it or not, ash from burned sewage sludge. Results showed that using a 10-15% blend of bagasse ash as a cement replacement actually increased the compressive strength of the concrete.

The research resulted in multiple by-product and pozzolanic research developments. The University researchers concluded that “the mechanical, hydration and rheological performance of the mixtures presented in this paper could be a blueprint for further development of ecological concrete.” 

To read more about the use of by-products in the construction of the venues, please visit: http://goo.gl/NxFPvd