Physiochemical and engineering characteristics of cenosphere and its application as a lightweight construction material- A review

Cenospheres are exclusively free flowing powders comprised of hard shelled, hollow, tiny spheres collected from coal ash. Their amount is based on the calcium and iron content present in the coal ash. The apparent density of these cenospheres is less than that of water and as such, they float on the ash slurry when it is impounded in the ash ponds or lagoons. Cenosphere are the inorganic part of coal containing amorphous structure and spherical shape. This is containing SiO2 and Al2O3 in higher amount. Cenospheres are being used in different industrial applications, mainly due to their low density, high strength, and good thermal properties. They have found a major application as fillers in syntactic foams and ceramic foams, fire, heat and sound insulation materials, manufacturing of sports equipment, anti-corrosive paints and construction works. Cenospheres are excellent potential raw material for the manufacture of construction material like light weight building block and concrete. They yield many benefits such low density, excellent mechanical strength and reasonable cost when used as a light weight aggregate or as an additive in concrete production. They can even be used to produce light-weight cement and paints with modifications in the surface and chemical properties. As such an effort is made in this paper to focus on the physiochemical and engineering characteristics of cenosphere. This paper also focused on various valuable application of cenosphere in construction industry. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.