Archives of Current Research International

Cement is a widely used material in civil construction, composed of various elements, with limestone being the main raw material. It is composed of the mineral calcite (calcium carbonate, CaCO₃) and other materials, such as clays, iron, and silica, in varying proportions. Concrete is formed from cement paste, mortar, and coarse aggregate (crushed stone). This article presents a review of the literature from the last 10 years (2023-2013) on the incorporation of ash from industrial waste into concrete mixtures to replace Portland cement. This practice has emerged as an economically viable and sustainable solution to reduce waste in the agribusiness sector and to avoid the depletion of natural resources resulting from the growing demand for civil construction in the country. The review was conducted on the Scopus and Web of Science platforms using the keywords “Concrete”, “Ash”, and “Sustainability”, yielding 1266 scientific articles. Of these, only 22 articles were selected because they contained the keywords in their titles. The results of the review demonstrated the predominance of coal fly ash over other waste used to replace Portland cement. Ash amounts range from 5% to 30% across different plant matrices. The axial compression test was used as a performance measure of the concrete's final strength. Finally, the great potential for using ash from rice husks, coal, palm oil, municipal solid waste, and cashew nut shells was demonstrated. It is observed that the technical feasibility of partially replacing cement with ash is well established in the literature, particularly with respect to environmental sustainability and the reduction of the carbon footprint associated with Portland cement production. However, significant methodological heterogeneity was observed across the studies, particularly in the physicochemical characterisation of the ash and its pozzolanic behavior.