This study contains pertinent theories.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42452-019-1608-8#:~:text=The%20workability%20of
%20concrete%20containing,to%20increase%20the%20compressive%20strength

According to Neville AM (2006) Concrete: Neville’s insights and issues. Thomas

Telford, states the use of molasses as a retarder historically rooted from the
early 1990s in the construction of England–France channel to prevent the
setting of residual concrete.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
335665074_Durability_of_recycled_aggregate_concrete_modified_with_sugarcane_molasses

B. Al and Liaqat Ali Qureshi (2019)

Utilization of plasticizer (or water-reducing admixture) in recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) reduces
the water demand, mitigates its poor workability, consequently, improves the mechanical strength
and durability. Moreover, sugarcane molasses is a by-product of sugar mills which can be used as a
cheap substitute of the conventional plasticizer to reduce the water demand. In this research, the
influence of various dosages of molasses (0%, 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.5%, and 1% by weight of
cement) is investigated on the properties of both RAC and natural aggregate concrete (NAC).
Mechanical properties such as compressive strength and split tensile strength are studied. To
evaluate the durability of each mix, several parameters such as water absorption, sorptivity
coefficient, chloride penetration, and acid attack resistance are investigated. Results of the testing
revealed that molasses can be used to mitigate the poor mechanical and durability performance of
RAC. Molasses improved the workability of both RAC and NAC by reducing the water demand to
maintain standard consistency. RAC modified with 0.5% molasses exhibited improvement in the
compressive strength up to 10-12% and split tensile strength 11-19%. Maximum reduction in water
absorption, sorptivity, chloride penetration, and mass loss due to acid attack of RAC was observed at
0.1-0.5% molasses. Behaviour of RAC and NAC is similar with varying dosage of molasses.

They also reported that concrete mixes with molasses showed improvement in compressive
strength at all ages except for early ages. Akar et al. [25] have also reported a delay in setting times
of cement pastes, and improvement in 28 days compressive and split tensile strength of concrete
upon inclusion of 0.5% beet molasses. Akar et al. also reported that durability of concrete decreased
with 1% inclusion of molasses in terms of sulphate attack resistance, acid attack resistance, alkali-
silica reaction, etc. but all durability parameters remained well within allowed limits.