Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121231

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

A novel development of green ultra-high performance concrete

(UHPC) based on appropriate application of recycled cementitious
material
Diao Qian a, b, 1, Rui Yu a, c, *, 1, Zhonghe Shui a, c, Yu Sun a, b, Chunyuan Jiang a, b,
Fengjiao Zhou a, b, Mengxi Ding a, b, Xuansheng Tong a, b, Yongjia He b
a
State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China
b
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China
c
Wuhan University of Technology Advanced Engineering Technology Research Institute of Zhongshan City, Xiangxing Road 6, 528400, Zhongshan,
Guangdong, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Recycled construction waste cementitious material (RCWCM) can be considered as a kind of waste solid
Received 25 November 2019 with potential cementitious characteristics. In the past, landfill and stacking methods were generally
Received in revised form used for treating this type of wastes, which is harmful for the sustainable development of construction
5 March 2020
industry. Hence, based on this premise, an effective method for developing a green Ultra-High Perfor-
Accepted 18 March 2020
mance Concrete (UHPC) by incorporating RCWCM is addressed in this study. Specifically, dehydrated
Available online 21 March 2020
cementitious powder (DCP) is obtained from heating treatment of RCWCM. Then, the DCP is used to
Handling Editor: Baoshan Huang gradually replace the cement and included in the design of UHPC based on Modified Andreasen &
Andersen (MAA) particle packing model. Afterwards, the physical and chemical characteristics of the
Keywords: newly produced UHPC are evaluated. The results show that when DCP is used to replace up to 25%
Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) cement, the variation of UHPC compressive strength is difficult to be noticed. Corresponding to that, the
Dehydrated cement paste (DCP) microstructure and durability of the developed green UHPC are also advanced when the added DCP
Recycling content is less than 25%. Additionally, the ecological assessment shows that the UHPC incorporating DCP
Ecological evaluation
has a relatively small impact on the environment, which provides a broad prospect for the future sus-
CO2 emissions
tainable development of UHPC.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction many excellent properties, it is still considered to be inconsistent

At the beginning of 1990s, Larrard and Sedran (1994) proposed a
new cement-based composite materialdultra-high-performance
concrete (UHPC), which has a low water-to-binder ratio and ultra-
fine admixture based on reactive powder concrete (RPC) (Richard
et al., 1994). Compared with traditional concrete, UHPC has the
characteristics of ultra-high strength, super high toughness and
super high durability (Larrard et al., 1994; Richard et al., 1995;
Kazemi et al., 2012; Qi et al., 2016). Due to its outstanding perfor-
mance, buildings made with UHPC have increased rapidly in recent
years (Zhang et al., 2019; Zhou et al., 2018). Although UHPC has so
* Corresponding author. State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architec-
tures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China.
E-mail address: r.yu@whut.edu.cn (R. Yu).
1
Equal contribution to this paper.
with current construction materials developing directions of
reducing CO2 emissions or restricting energy consumptions (Bentz
et al., 2017; John et al., 2018). This should be attributed to the fact
that UHPC’s component system is not optimized enough, and its
ecological development still needs to be further investigated. For
example, the cement content in the UHPC system is too high
(normally, 800e1000 kg/m3, which is circa three times more than
the cement dosage in normal concrete (Richard et al., 1995; Yazici
et al., 2008). In general, the use of high cement content in UHPC
also represents a relatively high amount of carbon dioxide emis-
sions, since a large amount of energy is consumed in the cement
production process (Yazici et al., 2008; Kajaste et al., 2016; Madlool
et al., 2011; Abbas et al., 2016). Therefore, it is necessary to promote
the ecological development of UHPC by reducing its cement
consumption.
Two methods are proposed in conjunction with the literature to

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.121231
0959-6526/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 D. Qian et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121231

improve the sustainability of UHPC (Mehta, 2009). The first one is reactivity and low environmental impacts. However, by far, the DCP
to use less cement in the UHPC mixture by employing smart con- has not been used in the production of UHPC, and it is not clear
crete mix design method. By far, the concrete design based on bulk whether this material could bring bright prospect for producing
density theory is one of the most important factors for UHPC to sustainable UHPC in the future.
achieve superior performance (Abbas et al., 2016). For example, Consequently, the focus in this study is to appropriately utilize
Larrard et al. (1994) proposed a linear bulk density model that DCP in the production of UHPC. This can not only provide new ideas
could effectively design the optimal ratio among all the utilized raw for the sustainable development of UHPC, but also rationally recycle
materials. However, due to its linear nature, this model does not construction waste and achieve upward recovery instead of the
address the relationship between compactness and material ratio. previous downward recovery. Hence, by realizing these potential
Later, De Larrard et al. (2002) introduced a second-generation benefits, in this study, the DCP is firstly utilized to replace cement to
model-a compressible stacked model (Compressible packing achieve a compact packing structure. After that, the effect of DCP
model, CPM) based on the concept of virtual bulk density and incorporation on UHPC performances, including flowability, me-
compaction index. The reactive powder concrete invented by chanical properties, volume stability, durability and microstructure
Richard et al. (1995) is based on the CPM model. Yu et al. (2014) development, are investigated. Additionally, the impact of the
used relatively low cement amount in the production of UHPC developed UHPC on the environment is also assessed.
with high density. In general, choosing a suitable concrete design
method can guarantee the advanced performances of UHPC, while
2. Materials and experimental methods
selecting reasonable materials to reduce the high cost and high
environmental impact raw materials is a key factor to further
2.1. Materials
promote its ecological development. In UHPC system, there has
been considerable part of studies using inexpensive materials to
2.1.1. Properties of raw material
replace cement or silica fume to produce novel UHPC. Such as fly
In this research, cement (P$O 52.5), SF, DCP, FA are employed as
ash (FA), ground granulated blast-furnace (GGBS) and limestone
the binder materials (detailed information are displayed in Table 1).
powder (LP). What is more, some researchers even mentioned
Besides, natural river sandsm (0e0.6 and 0.6e1.25 mm) are utilized
recycled materials (phosphorous slag (Yang et al., 2019), ground
as fine aggregates. Also, a polycarboxylate ether based super-
granite powder (GGP) (Zhang et al., 2019), fine glass powder
plasticizer is used to improve the workability of UHPC.
(Soliman and Tagnit-Hamou, 2017)) to replace cement or micro-
silica in the production of UHPC. However, it should be never be-
ing ignored that the amount of industry by products with high 2.1.2. Dehydrated cement paste (DCP)
quality are continuously reducing, and low grade tailings may bring
negative impact to UHPC characteristics. Therefore, there is still an 2.1.2.1. Selection of the RCWCM. Normally, RCWCM can be collected
urgent need for potential new cementitious materials in producing from many aspects, such as: abandoned building concrete (The fine
“green” UHPC. powder recovered in the inorganic building materials is similar to
As commonly known, disposing of construction and demolition the RCWCM component (Oh et al., 2014; Yu and Shui, 2014), and the
(C&D) waste is considered as a headache all over the world. For recycling process is shown in the Fig. 1), tunnel construction using a
instance, in China, the development of urbanization causes a large large amount of cement slurry to strengthen the formation (Shen
amount of construction waste to be generated each year. Most of et al., 2013), laboratory test samples. During these potential
them will be sent to rural or suburban areas for landfill, which RCWCM suppliers, the supply chain is very important (Gharaei
causing huge waste of resources and environmental damage et al., 2019; Duan et al., 2018). In this research, RCWCM is ob-
(Hemalatha et al., 2018; Akhtar and Sarmah 2018). Therefore, it has tained from waste materials in test laboratories. The reasons for the
received more and more attention. (Jin et al., 2017; Iacovidou et al., selection are shown as follows:
2017; Shi et al., 2016). At present, a large amount of researches has
focused on waste aggregates, and has also obtained satisfying re- (1) Availability: The test laboratory produces a huge amount of
sults. Such as the use of different mixing technologies for recycled cement-based test waste each year. A laboratory like Egypt
aggregate concrete (RAC) (Pradhan et al., 2017; Li et al., 2012) and can recycle up to 400 tons of waste per month (Elhakam
development of processing techniques of recycled aggregates (Tam et al., 2012). Compared to Egypt, Chinese test laboratories
et al., 2007; Ismail and Ramli, 2014). However, simply using generate more waste (Xiao et al., 2012);
aggregate is not enough. Therefore, rational use of recycled con- (2) Economy: The waste cement slurry collected in this experi-
struction waste cementitious material (RCWCM) can not only ment has been destroyed in advance during the test, which
reduce the total amount of construction waste in landfills, but also
bring economic and environmental benefits. One of the main Table 1
component of RCWCM is hardened cement paste (HCP), which Chemical composition of the used powders in this study (wt. %).
could restore hydration capacity when subjected to a high tem-
Substance Cement SF LP DCP
perature (400e1000
C) for several hours to (Tsimbrovska et al.,
1997; Shaw et al., 2000; Farage et al., 2003; Castellote et al., Na2O 0.175 0.13 e 0.137
MgO 2.786 0.47 2.891 1.849
2004). At the same time, some hydration products in the high Al2O3 4.581 0.25 0.083 4.997
temperature environment will gradually dehydrate, such as SiO2 19.383 94.65 0.191 19.967
ettringite, CeSeH gel and Ca(OH)2 (Phlilleo et al., 1978; Sarshar P2O5 0.061 0.17 0.012 0.132
et al., 1993; Hall et al., 1996). When the rehydration of dehy- TiO2 0.254 e e 0.364
SO3 3.498 0.69 0.02 2.949
drated cement paste (DCP) could occur, these dehydrated hydration
K2O 1.027 0.84 e 0.781
products will reform into new hydration products. The newly CaO 63.074 0.36 54.06 62.405
formed hydration product is substantially similar in nature to the Fe2O3 3.282 0.15 0.088 4.125
initial hydration product (Alonso et al., 2004; Yu et al., 2014). Cl 0.051 e 0.011 0.033
Compared to cement that normally used, the DCP could be treated LOI 1.54 2.29 42.62 2.261

as a new type of green cementitious material, which has high (C: Cement, LP: Limestone powder, SF: Silica Fume, DCP: dehydrated cement paste).
 D. Qian et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121231 3

Fig. 1. Flow chart for recycling of waste concrete for construction.

means that it takes less energy to process the waste. It also
saves the cost of processing waste in the laboratory;
(3) Convenience: Raw materials can be collected very conve-
niently from the laboratory without additional shipping
costs.
2.1.2.2. Production of the DCP. The processing of RCWCM adopts
the processing method presented in Yu and Shui (2013), and the
specific recycling flowchart is shown in Fig. 2. In addition, to study
the effect of heating temperature on DCP activity, D8 DISCOVER X-
ray diffractometer is used to perform high temperature XRD test on
the sieved RCWCM powder to analyze the microscopic composition
of RCWCM (The X-ray diffractometer is shown in Fig. 3).
Importantly, the high temperature XRD test can more intuitively
obtain the XRD change data of the sample during the continuous
heating process, which can avoid the error caused by the prior
calcination and re-cooling (some components can’t be detected
during the cooling process). The test results are shown in Fig. 4.
It can be observed from Fig. 4 that when the heating tempera-
ture increases from 20 to 400
C, the XRD pattern of DCP is sub-
stantially unchanged, which implies that there are no new
generated substances (Piasta et al., 1984). Then, as the heating
temperature further increased, calcium hydroxide begins to
decompose (the decomposition temperature of calcium hydroxide
was about 400
C), and the peak of Ca (OH) 2 in the dehydrated
phase gradually weaken and completely disappear at 650
C. This
indicates that it is decomposed in a large amount at 400e550
C. In

Fig. 2. Flow chart of the whole recycling procedures of DCP.

4 D. Qian et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121231
Fig. 3. D8 DISCOVER model X-ray diffractometer.
Fig. 4. High temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of RCWCM.
addition, a clear CaO peak appeared in the dehydrated phase at
450
C and gradually become clearer with increasing temperature.
C2S and C3S peaks appear at 650
C. At this time, Ca(OH)2 is
completely decomposed, and the CeSeH gel is decomposed into a
dissociated meso-phase amorphous CeSeH structure. When the
temperature is too high, the peaks of C2S and C3S become clearer,
which indicates that the free calcium in the dehydrated phase
gradually changes from amorphous to crystalline.
It is known from the prior literature that after treated at around
650
C, the obtained DCP has relatively high activity (Bogas et al.,
2019). With a further increase of the heating temperature, the
water requirement for re-hydration of the generated DCP will
sharply increase, which can bring negative impacts on the concrete
incorporating DCP (Hall et al., 1996). Finally, after comprehensive
consideration, 650
C is chosen as the optimized heating temper-
ature to produce DCP in this study. A comparison between the
obtained DCP and utilized cement is shown in Fig. 5.
2.2. Experimental methodologies
2.2.1. Mix design method of UHPC skeleton
In this study, the dense structure of UHPC is designed by
empolying the modified Andreasen & Andersen model (MAA), as
suggested by Yu et al. (2008, 2015). The model is shown in Equation
(1)).
Fig. 5. Particle size detection map of cement.
Dq  Dqmin
PðDÞ ¼ (1)
q q
Dmax  Dmin
Here, P(D) is the particle total fraction (%) with particle size less
than D, D represents the particle size, Dmax and Dmin are the
maximum and minimum particle parameter (mm) in UHPC. Owing
that a large amount of fine particles is utilized in UHPC, the value of
q is fixed at 0.23 in this study based on some literature.
When the deviation between the target curve and the composed
mix is minimized, the composition of the UHPC is considered the
best one. According to the design, the optimal proportion group
containing 400 kg/m3 cement is selected as the reference group
(DCP0). The mix ratio is designed by replacing the cement (by
mass) with 12.5%, 25%, 37.5 and 50% DCP. The recipe of the devel-
oped UHPC is shown in Table 2. As can be seen from Fig. 6, the
addition of DCP has little effect on the particle packing of the entire
solid skeleton and can therefore be ignored. The manufacturing
procedure is shown in Fig. 7.
2.2.2. Flowability test
This study applies EN1015-3 (2007) to evaluate the machin-
ability of the designed UHPC. First, pour the fresh paste into the
mold and lift the mold vertically. Finally, two diameters perpen-
dicular to each other are measured and data is recorded.
 D. Qian et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121231 5

Table 2 method. The device for measuring spontaneous contraction uses a

Mix proportion of UHPC (kg/m3). non-contact sensor. In addition, the rigid plastic plug used to seal
Mixture C DCP LP SF S1 S2 Water SP the two ends of the bellows contains a metal probe, which can
DCP0 400 0 500 200 220 770 200 33
record the displacement of the bellows at any time. The continuous
DCP50 350 50 500 200 220 770 200 33 shrinkage of the bellows reflects the early contraction of the UHPC.
DCP100 300 100 500 200 220 770 200 33 The slurry is mixed according to the mixing ratio, and then the
DCP150 250 150 500 200 220 770 200 33 slurry is placed in a bellows. The bellows is then sealed and its
DCP200 200 200 500 200 220 770 200 33
contraction for 7 consecutive days is measured.
(C: Cement, DCP: dehydrated cement paste, LP: Limestone powder, SF: Silica Fume,
S1: sand 0e0.6 mm, S2: sand 0.6e1.25 mm, SP: super plasticizer).
2.2.5. Rapid chloride penetration test
The NT Build 492 (1999) method is used to characterize the
effect of DCP content on UHPC durability. After mixing the slurry
according to the ratio, the UHPC is cast into a mold having a size
of 100  50 mm. After 7 days of curing, the UHPC sample is placed
in a vacuum chamber for 3 h and then immersed in a saturated
calcium hydroxide solution for 18 h. Then, the UHPC sample is fixed
with the silicon tubes, and then the cathode and anode solutions
are added. Next, the depth of chloride penetration is measured after
spraying AgNO3, and the non-steady state diffusion 184 parameter
(DRCM) was calculated according to the following formula:
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi!
0:0239*ð273 þ TÞL ð273 þ TÞL*Xd
DRCM ¼ Xd  0:0238*
ðU  2Þt U2
(2)

where U is the value of the voltage (V) used; T is the mean value of
initial and final temperature; L is the height of the sample (m); Xd is
depth of chloride penetration (m); t is the duration of the test (s).

2.2.6. Hydration kinetics test

In this study, the ATM AIR isothermal calorimeter is used to
record the isothermal heat of cement hydration at 25
C. The paste
sample is prepared according to the above mixing ratio, and the
sample is sealed in a container. It is then placed under constant
temperature in a calorimeter to monitor the release of heat during
the first 7 days.

2.2.7. Pore structure analysis

The mercury intrusion method (MIP, AutoPore IV-9500) is used
to test the effect of DCP on the microporous structure of UHPC.
Several samples that had been hydrated for 28 days were tested
separately. Also, the QUANTA FEG 450 field emission scanning
electron microscope is used to analyze the microscopic
morphology of UHPC with DCP.

2.2.8. Environmental evaluation

Fig. 6. Particle size distributions of the ingredients, target and optimized grading
curves of different UHPC mixtures.
2.2.3. Mechanical properties test
In this study, the designed UHPC are cast into a mold measuring
40 mm  40 mm  160 mm. The prism is removed from the mold
after curing for about 24 h, and then cured at about 20
C and a
relative humidity of 95 ± 5%. After 3, 7, and 28 days of curing, the
compressive strength samples are tested in accordance with EN
196-1 (2005). Test at least three samples per batch.
2.2.4. Autogenous shrinkage test
In this study, the volume stability of UHPC is evaluated ac-
cording to the GB/T 50082-2009 (2010) spontaneous shrinkage test
In this study, based on EN ISO 14040 and EN ISO, the carbon
footprint is used to assess the impact of UHPC on environments.
€
According to Okobau.dat and the GaBi database (2003), the CO2
emissions of all raw materials are shown in Table 3. The CO2
emission per cubic meter of UHPC is equal to the sum of the CO2
emission of each raw material (Habert et al., 2013; Vizcaíno et al.,
2015; He et al., 2019).
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Effect of the DCP on the flowability of UHPC
The results for the effects of different DCP contents on the
flowability of UHPC are shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen from the data
that UHPC prepared with suitable DCP content has little effect on its
flowability, but after the DCP content exceeds the critical value, the
UHPC flowability decreases sharply. For example, the UHPC with
pure cement has relative good flowability, which can reach about
6 D. Qian et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121231

Fig. 7. Mixing procedure for UHPC.

Table 3 water content of the UHPC mix is constant, the increase in DCP
Evaluation of CO2 emission of material in this investigation. content will quickly consume free water, which will accelerate the
material C DCP SF LP S PCE loss of flowability and plasticity of the slurry. And after the DCP
content exceeds a critical value, the water demand exceeds the
CO2(kg/kg) 0.84 0.048 0.00031 0.0278 0.0024 0.75
water supply amount, causing the UHPC’s fluidity to drop sharply.
(C: cement, DCP: dehydrated cement paste, SF: silica fume, LP: Limestone powder, S:
sand, PCE: water-reducer of polycarboxylic-ether based).

3.2. Effect of the DCP on the mechanical properties of UHPC

The relationship between the DCP content and the compressive

strength development of UHPC at different curing days is shown in
Fig. 9. Firstly, the development of the compressive strength of UHPC
samples after curing for 3 days mainly shows a downward trend.
This phenomenon is consistent with the phenomena shown in the
literature. However, the strength development trend after curing
for 7 days is to first rise and then decrease. This is because after 7
days of curing, the rehydration of DCP can promote oligomers
polymerize with each other. After polymerization is proceed to a
certain stage, they are further lapped into a network (Wang et al.,
2018). A dense structure is further formed inside the UHPC. Theo-
retically, the addition of DCP can continuously increase the
compressive strength of UHPC at 7 days. But actually, a decrease of
mixture workability will lead to an increase of internal voids, and
further decrease the compressive strength of UHPC samples.
Finally, after curing for 28 days, the relationship between DCP
content and the UHPC compressive strength shows a parabolic

Fig. 8. Influence of the DCP on the flowability of the design UHPC.

300 mm. During the process of increasing the DCP content from 0%
to 25%, the UHPC’s flowability declines relatively slowly. But when
the content increases from 25% to 50%, there is a tendency for a
sharp linear decline. And when the DCP content is 50%, the UHPC
flowability reaches a minimum value of 100 mm, and the mixture is
difficult to flow in this case.
The above phenomenon can be attributed to the following two
points: 1) The formation of DCP requires high temperature treat-
ment, during which the CeSeH phase depolymerizes and tends to
exist as an oligomer (Piasta et al., 1984). As a result, DCP particles
have a larger specific surface area than cement particles. Due to its
higher surface area, the reconnected CeSeH gel in the early period
can easily forms and combines more non-evaporable water (Shui
et al., 2009); 2) After heating treatment, the internal unstable
CeSeH structure and the rehydration of CaO and other substances Fig. 9. Influence of the DSP on the compressive strength development of the designed
in DCP will consume more water. Therefore, in the case where the UHPC.
 D. Qian et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121231
trend. In the early stage, the increasing DCP content has limited
influence on the compressive strength of UHPC. When the DCP
content exceeds 25%, the compressive strength of UHPC decreases
sharply.
These phenomena can be attributed to the following two char-
acteristics of the utilized DCP itself: 1) the nucleation effect of DCP
fine particles can promote the hydration process, which could
generate more hydration products and result in a denser micro-
structure; 2) DCP has high specific surface area and can absorb a
large amount of water, which can cause a poor workability and
generate more defects for UHPC. Therefore, according to the
experimental results shown in this study, it can be concluded that a
small amount of DCP has almost no effect on the compressive
strength of UHPC. When the DCP content exceeds 25%, the UHPC
compressive strength will decrease rapidly.
3.3. Effect of the DCP on the autogenous shrinkage of UHPC
In order to study the effect of DCP content on the volume sta-
bility of UHPC, the spontaneous contraction experiment is charac-
terized. The obtained experimental results are shown in Fig. 10. The
results in the figure show that the spontaneous contraction of the
designed UHPC increases rapidly at an early stage and is almost
stable after 24 h. This phenomenon is similar as the study of (Sun
et al., 2019). In addition, it can be found that by adding DCP, the
spontaneous shrinkage rate gradually increases. For example, the
spontaneous shrinkage of UHPC without DCP at 7 days is about
787 ppm, while these values of DCP50, DCP100 and DCP 150 are
about 859 ppm, 887 ppm and 837 ppm.
The above phenomenon can be attributed to the characteristics
of DCP particles. Compared with cement particles, the specific
surface area of DCP particles after high temperature treatment is
increased. When particles with higher specific surface area are
added, the mixture needs more water to wet the surface of the
particles (Celik and Marar, 1996). Therefore, when the DCP is
included into the production of UHPC, its w/b and internal hu-
midity are simultaneously reduced. It is generally known that
decreased internal humidity is one of the key factors in triggering
UHPC self-drying, which in turn leads to an increase in spontaneous
contraction. And according to the literature (Zhang et al., 2003), the
autogenous shrinkage rate increases as the w/b decreases. The
autogenous shrinkage of DCP150 is smaller than that of DCP100,
which can be attributed to its relatively poor flowability and the
Fig. 10. Influence of the DCP on the autogenous shrinkage of the design UHPC.
7
error in the process of loading plastic mold. Just like the group of
DCP200, because of its poor workability performance, it is impos-
sible to perform autogenous shrinkage testing for this group. As
mentioned in previous section, the mold used for the autogenous
shrinkage test is a corrugated polyethylene pipe (inner
diameter ¼ 20 mm, outside diameter ¼ 30 mm). Here, due to the
relatively poor flowability of DCP200, it is difficult to be filled into
the pipe, which cause that the autogenous shrinkage test is difficult
to be performed.
3.4. Effect of the DCP on the rapid chloride penetration of UHPC
Fig. 11 shows the rapid chloride migration depth for UHPC with
different DCP contents at 7 days. Besides, the Table 4 gives the
calculated rapid chloride migration diffusion rate. It can be
observed that when the incorporated amounts of DCP are 0%, 12.5%,
25%, 37.5% and 50%, the rapid chloride migration diffusion rate
(DRCM) of the designed UHPC are 2.01 £ 1012, 1.71  1012,
1.87  1012, 2.11  10-12 and 2.87  1012 m2/s, respectively. Also,
it can be seen that the migration diffusion speed of DCP50 and
DCP100 is smaller as DCP0, while the migration diffusion speed of
DCP150 and DCP200 is larger than that of DCP0. This phenomenon
indicates that when the DCP content is low, the combination of DCP
and UHPC has a beneficial effect on resisting the damage of chloride
ions. This is because the pore structure is optimized by the nucle-
ation of DCP fine particles, resulting in a denser microstructure.
When the DCP content is high, larger defects will form in the test
block, which will simultaneously increase chloride migration
through infiltration.
The above phenomenon can also be explained from the micro-
scopic hydration process of cement doped with DCP. The DCP
particles are smaller than the cement particles, and the hydration
process will fill the voids, resulting in a denser hydration micro-
structure of the test UHPCs. At the same time, the strong adsorption
effect of DCP can consume more water, which leads to a decrease in
actual w/c. As shown in Fig. 12, when DCP particles are added to the
cement, a large amount of CeSeH seeds can be rapidly produced. If
the DCP particles are uniformly dispersed in the cement, the
resulting CeSeH seeds are more evenly distributed, resulting in a
tighter and more uniform microstructure (as shown in Fig. 12 b)).
When the content of DCP is large, the agglomeration of DCP par-
ticles and strong adsorption cause a decrease of real w/b, which in
Fig. 11. Rapid chloride ion penetration depth of UHPC test blocks with different DCP
contents.
8 D. Qian et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121231

Table 4
Calculated values for rapid chloride migration diffusion (DRCM) of UHPC for
different DCP contents.

DCP content(vol%) U(V) Chloride penetration depth(mm) DRCM(m2/s)

0 50V 8.06 2.01  1012

12.5 50V 6.91 1.71  1012
25 50V 7.49 1.87  1012
37.5 50V 8.38 2.11  1012
50 50V 11.17 2.87  1012

Fig. 13. Calorimetry test results of UHPC pastes with different DCP content.

Fig. 12. Pure cement a), low content of DCP b) and high content of DCP c) Schematic
diagram of hydration and microstructure development of cement.
turn causes a large internal void. Therefore, there is an optimum
content of DCP to obtain advanced green UHPC with very dense
structure.
3.5. Effect of the DCP on the hydration heat of UHPC
To prove assumptions mentioned in previous sections, the in-
fluence of DCP content on the hydration kinetics of UHPC is tested
by isothermal calorimetry, and the heat flux and cumulative heat
per gram of cementitious material are calculated, and the obtained
results are shown in Fig. 13. Obviously, the peak heat flux per unit
mass of DCP50 gelatin material is similar as DCP0, while the heat
flux peaks of DCP100, DCP150 and DCP200 are decreasing.
Moreover, compared to the reference sample, the time for DCP50 to
reach the maximum heat flux peak is earlier, while the time for
DCP100 to reach the maximum heat flux peak is similar as DCP0,
and the time for DCP150 and DCP200 to reach the maximum heat
flux peak is delayed. In addition, as the amount of added DCP in-
creases, the cumulative heat of the UHPC sample shows a tendency
to decrease in the calculation per unit mass of cementitious
material.
The above observed phenomena can also be attributed to two
aspects: 1) the water absorption capacity of DCP could result in a
decrease in effective w/b in the sample. In this case, a decrease in
water content will weaken the hydration reaction of the cement; 2)
the small activated particles in DCP can show nucleation effect,
which could promote the cement hydration and bring a denser
microstructure (Oey et al., 2013). Hence, with an appropriate con-
tent of DCP (e.g. DCP50), the properties of the developed green
UHPC can be well promoted.
 D. Qian et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121231
3.6. Microstructure development
To study the influence of DCP on the development of UHPC
microstructure, DCP50, DCP100, DCP150 after hydrating for 28 days
are selected, and their microstructures are shown in Fig. 14. After 28
days of curing, the pore size of the UHPC is mainly between 3 and
15 nm. In order to analyze the pore structure of UHPC more
quantitatively, the void ratio and the average pore size are shown in
Table 5. The content of DCP has little effect on the porosity of UHPC,
but it has a great influence on average pore size. From DCP100 to
DCP150, the average pore structure suddenly becomes larger. This
also verify the development trend of UHPC compressive strength at
28 days. When the added DCP content continues to increase to
more than 25%, the compressive strength of the test piece begins to
decrease rapidly.
The above results can also be further verified in the micro-
structure analysis, as shown in Fig. 15. The microstructure of DCP50
is denser than that of the control group, DCP0, and the results of
DCP100 are similar as those of DCP0. However, the microstructures
of DCP150 and DCP200 are relatively fluffy. From Fig. 5, it is clear
that the utilized DCP particles are finer than cement particles,
which implies that the microstructure of UHPC could be densified
Fig. 14. Comparison of pore structure of UHPC prepared with different DCP contents at
28 days.
9
Table 5
The total porosity and average pore size of UHPC containing DCP.
Mixture DCP50 DCP100 DCP150
Total porosity(%) 6.6847 6.9485 6.4772
Average pore diameter(nm) 8.4 8.5 10.4
by the DCP based on physical and chemical (as shown in Section
3.5) points of view. However, excessive DCP may bring negative
influence on the microstructure, which in turn can reduce its me-
chanical properties.
3.7. Carbon foot print evaluation of UHPC with DCP
To demonstrate the developed UHPC is a sustainable and clean
product, its CO2 emissions per unit green UHPC with different DCP
contents and the ratio of CO2 emissions/compressive strength per
unit of the green UHPC are collected and presented in Fig. 16. For
the second index mentioned above, it represents the amount of CO2
emissions per unit of strength. When the same compressive
strength is reached, a larger value for CO2 emissions/compressive
strength per unit of the green UHPC means a greater amount of
carbon dioxide produced in the production of UHPC. From the re-
sults in the figure, it can be noticed that the addition of DCP is
beneficial for further improving the UHPC performance based on
sustainable point of view. For example, under the same strength
condition, the CO2 emission per unit volume of the green UHPC
incorporating DCP is lower than the reference sample, reflecting a
higher utilization rate of cement in green UHPC. Besides, as the DCP
content increases, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the
production of UHPC can be effectively reduced. Such as, for a classic
UHPC with only pure cement, the required CO2 per unit volume is
377 kg, and when the DCP content is added by 25%, the emissions
are significantly reduced to 298 kg. Generally, all the phenomena
mentioned above can be attributed to the following facts: 1) DCP is
generated from waste materials, and it consumes less resource and
energy during the production process, compared to cement; 2) DCP
has cementitious characteristics and a large amount of fine parti-
cles, which can effectively promote the cement hydration in UHPC.
In summary, on one hand, based on the experimental results
shown in this study, when the added DCP is about 25%, a high-
grade green UHPC with a very dense microstructure can be pro-
duced; On the other hand, DCP can be treated as a waste material,
and the addition of DCP can reduce the cost of UHPC and its impact
on the environment. Therefore, considering the effect of DCP on the
compressive strength, durability, microstructure and environ-
mental impact of UHPC simultaneously, the optimal content of DCP
in this study is about 25%. From an economic and environmental
perspective, using a suitable amount of DCP instead of cement to
produce UHPC can not only reduce the total amount of construction
waste in landfills, but also reduce the cost of UHPC and reduce the
impact of UHPC on the environment. It can be concluded that it is
reasonable to appropriately replace cement by DCP in producing a
green UHPC, which provide a new idea to generate new clean
product in the future.
4. Conclusions and future perspectives
In this study, a feasibility study of incorporating dehydrated
cementitious powder (DCP) into ultra-high performance concrete
(UHPC) is conducted. By evaluating the macro properties, micro-
structure development and environmental impact of the newly
developed green UHPC, the following conclusions can be drawn:
10 D. Qian et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121231

Fig. 15. SEM micrographs of the samples at 28 days: (a).

(1) It is proved that, based on the modified Andreasen &
Andersen particle packing model, a dense UHPC skeleton can
be generated by replacing part of the cement with DCP.
(2) When the added DCP amount is relatively small (e.g. <25% of
the replaced amount), it has limited effect on the macro
properties of UHPC. When more than 25% cement is replaced
by DCP, the workability, compressive strength, autogenous
shrinkage and durability of the developed UHPC could be
negatively affected.
(3) On one hand, the added DCP can absorb the free water and
reduce the hydration required water content, which is
harmful for promoting the hydration kinetics and dense
structure generation; On the other hand, the small activated
particles in DCP can show nucleation effect, which could
promote the cement hydration and bring a denser micro-
structure. Hence, there is an optimum content (about 25% in
this study) for DCP to produce advanced green UHPC with
very dense microstructure.
(4) Additionally, the ecological assessment results show that
replacing cement by DCP can effectively reduce the CO2
emissions per unit volume of UHPC, and simultaneously
guarantee the advanced performances of UHPC. This implies
that it is reasonable to appropriately replace cement by DCP
in producing a green UHPC, which provide a new idea to
generate new clean product in the future.
In this study, it has been demonstrated that the RCWCM can be
utilized to produce a green UHPC. However, the original source of
RCWCM is from the laboratory waste materials. In practice, the
original source of waste materials can be more complicated, such as
with different water-cement ratios and different hydration prod-
ucts. Therefore, in future research, more construction and demoli-
tion waste will be considered. In addition, the relationship between
 D. Qian et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 261 (2020) 121231
Fig. 16. CO2 emissions from unit UHPC and its ratio to compressive strength.
superplasticizer and DCP compatibility should be further consid-
ered. In this study, the negative effects of DCP were manifested by
rapid absorption and high water absorption. As commonly known,
the cement and DCP particles are easy to agglomerate and encap-
sulate the water molecules. After the water reducing agent is
added, all these particles will be adsorbed together with the water
reducing agent molecules and have the same charge, which will
generate an electrostatic repulsive force and release water drops.
Therefore, if the relationship between superplasticizer and DCP is
clear, then choosing a suitable superplasticizer can further reduce
or eliminate the negative impact of DCP, thereby improving the
overall performance of green UHPC.
Declaration of competing interest
There is no conflict of interest in this paper.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Diao Qian: Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology,
Investigation, Writing - original draft. Rui Yu: Conceptualization,
Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing -
review & editing. Zhonghe Shui: Supervision, Funding acquisition,
Project administration. Yu Sun: Writing - review & editing, Meth-
odology, Validation. Chunyuan Jiang: Methodology, Resources.
Fengjiao Zhou: Methodology, Resources. Mengxi Ding: Resources.
Xuansheng Tong: Resources. Yongjia He: Funding acquisition.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial supports of National Key
R&D Program of China (2017YFB0310001), National Nature Science
Foundation Project of China (51608409, 51679179), Major science
and technology project in Zhongshan city, Guangdong province
(2017A1021), Yang Fan plan of Guangdong Province (201312C12),
Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province in 2017
(2017B090907009), Major science and technology project in
Zhongshan city, Guangdong province (2019AG030), and open
research project of Advanced Engineering Technology Research
Institute of Wuhan University of technology in Zhongshan city
(WUT201802).
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