Journal of Cleaner Production 400 (2023) 136555

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Journal of Cleaner Production

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A new eco-friendly concrete made of high content phosphogypsum based

aggregates and binder: Mechanical properties and environmental benefits
Tao Sun a, b, *, Wanmin Li c, Fang Xu d, **, Zechuan Yu e, Ziyan Wang b, f, Gaoshang Ouyang b, c,
Dong Xu e
a
State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei Province, China
b
Wuhan University of Technology Advanced Engineering Technology Research Institute of Zhongshan City, Zhongshan, 528400, Guangdong Province, China
c
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei Province, China
d
Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei Province, China
e
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei Province, China
f
International School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, Hubei Province, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Zhen Leng Waste phosphogypsum (PG) has been proved recyclable in producing qualified aggregate and binder for con­
crete, with a substitution rate of above 70% in aggregate and 40% in binder. Therefore, it is feasible to use
Keywords: phosphogypsum with high content as recyclable aggregate and binder. This paper provides a detailed description
Phosphogypsum of high-content phosphogypsum-based concrete (HPGC) preparation process, together with evaluation of me­
Mechanical properties
chanical properties, impurity stability, and radioactivity of the concrete. The prepared HPGC is heavier than
Environmental benefits
typical lightweight concrete, with reduced mechanical properties and qualified leaching performance. The
Phosphogypsum-based cold-bonded aggregates
High-content phosphogypsum-based concrete compressive strength of the concrete prepared in this experiment at 28d was generally in the range of 18
MPa–40 MPa. Upon significant drop in compressive strength, critical PG content in coarse aggregate is around
80%, while the content in binder is about 60%. The concrete makes a good solidification of waste PG, with
release of hazardous matters acceptable according to local building codes. Featuring a substitution rate of above
800 kg/m3, the PG concrete technology would find large-scale applications in recycling massive phosphogypsum
waste.

1. Introduction
Phosphogypsum (PG) is an industrial solid waste produced during
the wet process of phosphoric acid production. With the rapid devel­
opment of phosphate fertilizer industry, PG emissions have increased
sharply (Y. G. Liu et al., 2022; Wei and Deng, 2022). Statistics show that
the annual production of PG in China exceeds 55 million tons, and the
current accumulated stockpile has exceeded 500 million tons, which has
caused serious pollution to the environment and restricted the sustain­
able development of phosphorus chemical enterprises (Chuan et al.,
2018). The content of CaSO4⋅2H2O in PG is generally above 85%, which
allows it to be used as a source of calcium sulfate (Min et al., 2008;
Rashad, 2015). Existing studies have convincingly demonstrated the
technical feasibility of using PG as a cement retarder (Akın Altun and
Sert, 2004; Kacimi et al., 2006), soil conditioner (Enamorado et al.,
2014), building gypsum (Wei et al., 2021), and road filler (Diouri et al.,
2022; Meskini et al., 2021), where the comprehensive phosphogypsum
utilization rate is still less than 40%. Cement and concrete are by far the
most demanded construction materials (Aslam et al., 2016). Using PG as
raw material for cement and concrete has been considered a possible
effective way to dealing with this solid waste. It has been found that
phosphogypsum-based cold-bonded aggregates (PCBAs) with 80%
phosphogypsum content still exhibits good mechanical properties and
resistance to water erosion (Ding, 2022; G. Y. Liu et al., 2022). On top of
the aggregates, high-content phosphogypsum-based concrete (HPGC)
prepared using the PCBAs needs to be investigated in detail.
-When preparing concrete with the PCBAs, compatibility of the
matrix and the aggregates is first to consider. The aggregates are pre­
pared by PG, ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS), and a small
amount of clinker. Existing technology has achieved over 60% inclusion

* Corresponding author. State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China.
** Corresponding author. Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China.
E-mail addresses: sunt@whut.edu.cn (T. Sun), xufang@cug.edu.cn (F. Xu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.136555
Received 17 December 2022; Received in revised form 5 February 2023; Accepted 19 February 2023
Available online 7 March 2023
0959-6526/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T. Sun et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 400 (2023) 136555

rate of PG in PCBAs (Ding, 2022). The excess PG does not fully partic­ Table 1
ipate in the hydration reaction, and the remaining part acts as a filler in Chemical compositions of PG, GGBS and OPC by XRF (wt%).
the aggregates (Gruskovnjak et al., 2008). Therefore, there is a risk when Compositions PG GGBS OPC
this aggregate is used in combination with ordinary Portland cement.
SO3 37.949 2.485 2.352
The negative effects of excess sulfate on ordinary Portland cement have P2O5 0.802 0.074 0.214
been extensively studied, this is related to the generation of ettringite CaO 27.05 41.272 58.022
(Chen and Jiang, 2009; Li et al., 2022; Pinto et al., 2020a). The sensi­ Al2O3 1.273 14.019 6.355
tivity of the matrix to sulfate should be limited to ensure the overall SiO2 8.336 29.573 21.651
Fe2O3 0.578 1.389 3.243
performance of the mixture and to improve its application value. K2O 0.812 0.509 0.741
Excess-sulfate phosphogypsum slag cement (EPSC), composed of TiO2 0.132 0.952 0.515
excess 40% PG, around 40%–50% GGBS and a small quantity of clinker MgO 0.113 8.240 2.244
(Huang and Lin, 2010; Wang et al., 2022), which is highly consistent F 1.303 / /
MnO / 0.22 /
with PCBAs in terms of raw materials and hydration products. EPSC
LOI 21.702 0.321 3.832
exhibits good mechanical properties and utilization potential, its 28d
compressive strength decreased from 48.7 MPa to 29.1 MPa as the
phosphogypsum admixture increased from 35% to 65% (Li et al., 2022; and radioactivity. Recycling efficiency of PG in the concrete is calcu­
Yang, 2016; Huang, 2010). It also has a low heat of hydration and lated, to demonstrate advantages of the HPGC technology in efficient,
excellent durability in chloride salt attack environments (Liu, 2020; large-scale, economical, and environmental friendly recycling of phos­
Pinto et al., 2020b; Wang, 2022a, 2022b). In fact, the preparation of phogypsum waste.
excess-sulfate phosphogypsum slag cement concrete (EPSCC) using
natural aggregates has been extensively studied in China (Shui et al., 2. Materials and methods
2021; Chen et al., 2013). The development of EPSCC strength is signif­
icantly different from that of ordinary Portland cement concrete, which 2.1. Raw materials
has a relatively slow development of compressive strength at the early
age, and the compressive strength at 28 d is nearly the same as that of The chemical composition of the raw materials used for the prepa­
ordinary Portland cement concrete. The performance of EPSCC is closely ration of HPGC are shown in Table 1. The mineral constituents of all
related to the performance of EPSC and increasing the fineness of GGBS materials were identified using a PANalytical Empyrean X-ray diffrac­
is also beneficial to the performance of EPSCC. It was found that EPSCC tometer (XRD). The microstructure of phosphogypsum was examined by
has better resistance to permeation and sulfate attack compared to or­ scanning electron microscopy (SEM, QUANTA FEG 450). Detailed
dinary Portland cement concrete (Pinto et al., 2020b; Ding, 2014). characterization results are shown in Fig. 1. PG is composed of gypsum
In addition, hazardous impurities of PG, such as heavy metals, crystals (CaSO4⋅2H2O) in the form of plates, and a small amount of
radioactive elements, and phosphate, are another factor limiting its impurities of P, and quartz. The GGBS has obvious amorphous phase
application (Korany et al., 2021; Silva et al., 2022; Vinnichenko and (20◦ ~40◦ ), which is a symbol for its pozzolanic activity. GGBS will be
Riazanov, 2020). The stability of impurities in phosphogypsum-based activated by Ca(OH)2 (OPC hydration product) and PG to form the C-
products needs to be guaranteed, otherwise the leaching of hazardous (A)-S-H gel and ettringite in the EPSC (Wang, 2022a). Phosphogypsum is
impurities in phosphogypsum will cause secondary environmental a moist gray lump supplied by Hubei Yihua Ltd. Phosphogypsum con­
pollution and reduce its recovery efficiency. Therefore, it is important to tained 81.60% gypsum per the SO3 content. In this experiment, phos­
evaluate the impurity stability and radioactivity of HPGC. In the phogypsum was treated as follows, dried at 40 ◦ C and crushed to powder
leaching experiments of calcium sulphoaluminate cement mixed with in a jaw crusher, after which after which it was passed through a 600 μm
phosphogypsum, it was found that the concentrations of the elements mesh sieve (Xie et al., 2022). This was done to reduce the bias in the
detected in the leaching solution all met the requirements of the national overall experimental results caused by the uneven water content of
standard (GB/T14848–2007: Class III) (Wu, 2020). Ding found that it phosphogypsum as well as the overall particle size and some difficult to
can effectively solidify impurities such as Co, Cr, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, and P by crush impurities. Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) was provided by
studying the concentration variation of hazardous impurities in PCBA Huaxin Cement Company Ltd, the main mineral composition was
leach solution (Ding, 2022). Huang studied the radioactive concentra­ calculated using the Bogue method and listed in Table 2. GGBS was
tions of 226Ra, 232Th, and 4K of calcium sulphoaluminate cement pre­ provided by Wuhan Iron and Steel Company. According to the national
pared with phosphogypsum according to the Chinese standard GB standard GB/T 203, reactivity of the GGBS is evaluated by the quality
6566–2010 and found that the values of activity concentration of nu­ factor (K), determined by total amount of oxides (CaO, Al2O3, and MgO)
clides, IRa and Ir were much lower than 1.0 (Huang, 2020). Numerous over total amount of oxides (SiO2, MnO, and TiO2), as shown in equation
studies have shown that the mineral formation and hydration processes (1). The greater the K, the more active the GGBS. For the GGBS used in
of cement exhibit a strong solidification effect on heavy metals. For the study, K = 2.06. Fig. 2 shows the particle size distribution curves of
example, Ca2+ in the structure of ettringite can be replaced by other PG, GGBS, and OPC. The sand, with a fineness modulus of 2.83, was
divalent cations such as Mg2+, Zn2+, Fe2+, and Ni2+; Al3+ can be obtained from Hubei Heili Jiusheng Concrete Company Ltd.
replaced by trivalent cations such as Fe3+, Mn3+, and Cr3+; SO2− 4 can be
mCaO + mMgO + mAl2 O3
replaced by SeO2− 2− -
4 , CrO4 , B(OH)4, and other anion groups. In addition, K= (1)
mSiO2 + mMnO + mTiO2
ettringite can also solidify Cs, I, Np, Sn, and other heavy metal ions
through the surface electronegativity effect (Albino et al., 1996; Berardi
et al., 1998). 2.2. Preparation of PCBAs
In this study, the feasibility of using EPSC and PCBAs to prepare high-
content phosphogypsum-based concrete (HPGC) was investigated. The The preparation process of PCBAs was similar to the literature (Ding,
experiments includes 6 types of mixtures, which are divided into two 2022), where phosphogypsum after drying, crushing, and sieving was
groups according to different content of PG in the ESPSC. The PCBAs uniformly mixed with GGBS and OPC and further melded in a disc
with 70%, 80%, and 90% phosphogypsum content were incorporated granulator. The disc granulator had a diameter of 49 cm and a depth of
respectively. The fresh density, dry density, compressive strength, 16 cm, and the disc granulator operated at an inclination of 45◦ and a
splitting tensile strength, water absorption, and stress-strain behavior of speed of 43 r/min. The aggregate particle size was 7–9 mm. However,
HPGC were comprehensively evaluated, together with impurity stability the prepared aggregates were cured at 20 ◦ C ± 2 ◦ C for 3 days using a

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T. Sun et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 400 (2023) 136555

Fig. 1. XRD patterns of PG, GGBS, and OPC (a), (b), (c) and SEM photos of the PG (d).

mineral powder blended in the aggregates, they are denoted by P70,

Table 2 P80, and P90, respectively. The literature (Ding, 2022) has shown that
Main mineral phases in cement (wt%). 70% and 80% prepared PCBAs have excellent mechanical properties,
Phase C3S C2S C3A C4AF CS and in this experiment, an additional 90% prepared phosphogypsum
aggregate was chosen, the physical properties of PCBAs were tested in
Volume fraction 45.60 27.95 11.61 9.84 4.19
accordance with the literature (Ding, 2022).

2.3. Raw material pre-treatment and mixing design

2.3.1. Raw material pre-treatment

The PG was modified by wet grinding a mixture of PG, GGBS,
cement, and water in percentages of 61.33%, 2.67%, 2.67%, and
33.33% respectively, before proceeding to concrete mixing. This method
was found very effective in modifying phosphogypsum. It is worth
noting that if a higher water-powder ratio is chosen, this has a very
limiting effect on the water-binder ratio used in the subsequently pre­
pared concrete. In this case, the wet grinding time was 30 min, after
which the wet ground phosphogypsum paste was aged for 24 h (Wang,
2022a; Wang et al., 2022). However, since the aged PG paste settles, it
needs to be well mixed and stirred before being used for concrete
preparation. Considering that it is difficult to control the moisture
content of coarse aggregates during the mixing process, the water ab­
sorption of each PCBAs is not consistent. Therefore, the aggregate sur­
face should be wiped with a damp cloth so that it is in a saturated surface
dry state before being used for concrete mixing.

Fig. 2. Particle size distribution of PG, GGBS, and OPC.
sealed container, due to the low strength of the early PCBAs, especially
for the high phosphogypsum-content aggregates, which are less resistant
to water erosion. This was followed by curing in water under a standard
environment (20 ◦ C ± 2 ◦ C) to 28d. The prepared PCBAs are shown in
Fig. 3. Table 3 shows the mixing ratio of PCBAs and their related
physical properties. Depending on the amount of phosphogypsum and
2.3.2. Mixing design
A total of 6 types of concrete mixtures were prepared in this study,
and the mixing ratios and preparation methods for all samples are shown
in Table 4 and Fig. 4. Since PG needs to be wet-ground first, the raw
material ratios were based on the wet-ground ratios minus the corre­
sponding amounts of water, GGBS, and cement.
When preparing HPGC using PCBAs and EPSC, a low water-binder
(w/b) ratio of 0.35 was used in this study to maintain its strength.
Generally, there are two water-binder ratios, total water-binder ratio

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 T. Sun et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 400 (2023) 136555

Fig. 3. PCBAs with 70%, 80%, and 90% phosphogypsum content.

Table 3
Mixing ratio and physical properties of PCBAs.
Labels Mix proportions of PCBAs (wt Cylinder compressive strength (MPa) Apparent density (kg/m3) Bulk density (kg/m3) Grading (mm) Water absorption (%)
%)

PG GGBS OPC

P70 70 25 5 13.8 1806 1130 7–9 4.79

P80 80 15 5 12.1 1756 1082 7–9 6.28
P90 90 5 5 4.2 1613 981 7–9 11.88

Table 4
Mix proportion for high phosphogypsum-based concrete (kg/m3).
Labels Mix proportions of binder Type of coarse coarse aggregate Sand Polycarboxylate Water Water-
aggregate (pre-wetting) Superplasticizer binder (w/
Phosphogypsum Phosphogypsum GGBS OPC
b)
paste proportion (%)

HPGC5- 407.6 50 219.2 9.2 P70 765 698 3 39 0.35

70
HPGC5- 407.6 50 219.2 9.2 P80 765 698 3 39 0.35
80
HPGC5- 407.6 50 219.2 9.2 P90 765 698 3 39 0.35
90
HPGC6- 489.2 60 166.8 6.8 P70 765 698 3 11.8 0.35
70
HPGC6- 489.2 60 166.8 6.8 P80 765 698 3 11.8 0.35
80
HPGC6- 489.2 60 166.8 6.8 P90 765 698 3 11.8 0.35
90

and net water-binder ratio (remove the water needed to bring the
aggregate to a saturated surface dry state), used to design the mixing
ratio of light-aggregate concrete (Zheng et al., 2022). For the total
water-binder ratio, water refers to the sum of the water pre-soaked with
light aggregates and the water added during the mixing process. For the
net water-binder ratio, it is related to the water added during the mixing
process, ignoring the water required for aggregate pre-wetting. Here, the
net water-binder ratio was chosen for the mix ratio design in the study
because, if a total w/b ratio of 0.35 is used, the additional water added,
minus the water needed to bring the aggregate to saturated surface
dryness, does not give good workability of the concrete, especially for
concrete prepared from aggregates with high water absorption. Based on
previous studies, the mass ratios of PG, GGBS, and OPC were set at 50%,
45%, and 5% for one type of EPSC and 60%, 35%, and 5% for another
type of EPSC. These 2 types of EPSC exhibit acceptable mechanical
strength (28d compressive strength can reach about 38 MPa and 33
MPa, respectively).
Firstly, sand was mixed with pre-wetted PCBAs in a concrete mixer
for 0.5 min, then EPSC was added for 0.5 min, and finally water and
admixtures were added and mixed for 2 min. The fresh mix was poured
in cube molds of different sizes. The samples were shaken on a vibrating
table for 20 s to obtain good flow and compaction while avoiding PCBAs
floating on the concrete. The samples were wrapped in plastic film and
molds to prevent drying and cured at room temperature for 24 h. All
demolded specimens were stored in a standard curing chamber until the
age of the test.
2.4. Test method
2.4.1. Mechanical properties
The fresh concrete mix was loaded into a 5-L cylinder and vibrated
on a vibrating table for 30s. The concrete was pounded spirally from
edge to center with a pounding stick, 15 times per layer. Finally, scrape
off the excess mix along the mouth of the capacity cylinder, smooth the
surface, wipe the exterior of the capacity cylinder clean, and weigh its
quality. In addition, the standard GB/T50081-2019 was used to test the
compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, modulus of elasticity,
dry density, and water absorption of HPGC concrete. The testing ma­
chine will show the maximum stress as well as the stress-strain curve.
After the stress-pressure curve is plotted, the modulus of elasticity is
calculated. The modulus of elasticity is the slope of the linear phase,
which ranges from 15 to 50% of the maximum stress. The splitting
tensile strength is calculated according to equation (2) and the test de­
vice is shown in Fig. 4 (a).
f ts =
2F
(2)
πA
where fts is the concrete splitting tensile strength (MPa), F is the spec

4
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T. Sun et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 400 (2023) 136555

Fig. 4. The preparation process and test projects of HPGC in this study, (a) Splitting tensile strength test and (b) static leaching experiment of HPGC.

imen breaking load (N), A is the specimen splitting surface area (mm2).

2.4.2. Hydration products

X-ray diffraction (XRD) and derivative thermogravimetry-
differential scanning calorimetry (DTG/DSC) were performed to study
the hydration products of this cementitious material, all tests were
performed based on pure aqueous slurry, aiming to avoid the influence
of sand and aggregates on the test results during sampling. X-ray
diffraction was performed on an Empyrean diffractometer to determine
the crystalline phases in the EPSC paste samples. X-ray diffraction
measurements were carried out between 5◦ and 70◦ in steps of 1◦ with
Cu Kα radiation (λ = 1.5418 Å). DTG-DSC curves recorded on a Netzsch
STA449F3 were monitored over the temperature range of 25–800 ◦ C,
with a heating rate of 10 ◦ C/min under a nitrogen flow of 20 ml/min.
The weight loss of the samples was used to infer the species of each
phase substance for further validation of the qualitative XRD analysis.

2.4.3. Environmental impact

Ionic leaching: static leaching experiments were conducted on the
damaged HPGC to assess its impact on the environment. 70.7mm ×
70.7mm × 70.7 mm cubic specimens were prepared and tested for Fig. 5. Fresh density and 28d dry density of HPGC.
compressive strength normally, followed by preserving the specimens in
different damaged forms in sealed containers, where the mass ratio of
where IRa is the internal exposure index; CRa is the specific activity of the
deionized water to solid was 1:1 and the leaching time was up to 28d and
natural radionuclide radium-226 in building materials, the unit is Bq/
56d. As shown in Fig. 4 (b). The water samples were filtered through 4-
kg.
μm filter paper and contents of phosphorus and heavy metals in the
solution were determined using ICP-AES. CRa CTh Ck
Ir = + + (4)
Radioactivity: using the specifications of standard GB 6566–2010, 370 260 4200
the samples were first baked at 105 ◦ C for 3–4 h. The whole concrete
samples were crushed and ground finely and passed through 0.16 mm where Ir is the external exposure index; CRa, CTh, and Ck are the radio­
sieve, where the internal and irradiation indices were calculated ac­ active specific activities of natural radionuclides radium-226, thorium-
cording to equations (3) and (4), respectively. 232 and potassium-40 in building materials, the unit is Bq/kg.

CRa
IRa = (3)
200

5
T. Sun et al.
Fig. 6. Failure model of HPGC5-80 and HPGC6-80, (a) (c): 28d, (b) (d):90d.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Fresh and dry densities
The fresh bulk density of the HPGCs ranged from 2140 to 2200 kg/
m3 and the 28d dry density ranged from 2030 to 2090 kg/m3 (Fig. 5).
Because the aggregates are fully saturated with water in the fresh state,
the fresh density is considerably higher than the corresponding dry
density. In addition, with the increase of PG content in PCBAs, both fresh
and dry densities of HPGC showed a decreasing trend. With P90, the
fresh density and 28d dry density of HPGC5 and HPGC6 decreased more,
1.81%, 1.99%, 1.45%, and 1.46%, respectively, which may be related to
their larger porosity and higher PG content, and the difference in
porosity between P80 and P90 was as high as 5.22%. In some cases, the
theoretical new and dry densities of the concrete differed significantly
from the measured values, which may be due to changes in raw mate­
rials and mixing ratios. In general, the 28d dry densities of the concrete
prepared in this experiment are all greater than 1950 kg/m3, which is
higher than some typical lightweight concrete (Balapour et al., 2022;
Zhao et al., 2018). These experimental results are important in that they
can effectively assess the transportation cost of concrete.
6
Journal of Cleaner Production 400 (2023) 136555
3.2. Failure mechanism analysis
HPGC exhibits unique damage characteristics. As the load increases,
the deformation of the specimen is compressive in the vertical direction
and expansive in the horizontal direction. As the specimen is restrained
by the steel pressure plate on the loading surface, the expansion defor­
mation is small, while the expansion deformation is the largest in the
center of the specimen height. Initially, the cracks appeared near the
surface of the specimen, in the vertical direction at the center of the
specimen height and developed along the oblique direction to the upper
and lower ends and turned to the corners of the specimen at the loading
surface. When the load was about 0.60–0.85 times the ultimate load, the
loading was continued and the new cracks gradually developed inward,
and the surface concrete began to bulge and spall. In the damage process
of HPGC specimens, the sound of splitting was significantly quieter, and
the damage phenomenon was milder than that of ordinary Portland
cement concrete. The damage patterns and test phenomena of HPHC5
and HPGC6 specimens were almost the same, and the addition of
different types of aggregates did not have a significant effect on the
damage patterns of concrete specimens. The section characteristics of
the concrete after damage are shown inFig. 6. This failure mode is
different from the paste-aggregate interface of the damaged ordinary
aggregate concrete. At 28d, the surface characteristics of the failure are
both direct rupture of some aggregates and spalling at the extended
T. Sun et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 400 (2023) 136555

interface, and with the growth of the curing age, by 90d, mainly
aggregate damage was observed, showing typical light aggregate con­
crete damage characteristics (Hasan et al., 2021; X. S. Liu et al., 2019). It
was found that there was no clear line of demarcation between the
aggregate and the binder and that the two had fused and some of the
aggregates could not be clearly observed.

3.3. HPGC compressive strength and splitting tensile strength

The standard cubic compressive strength of concrete is a reasonable

Fig. 7. Compressive strength of HPGC at 7d, 28d and 90d.
Fig. 8. Splitting tensile strength of HPGC at 28d.
and comparable relative strength index, which can be used as the basis
for calculating other mechanical properties and can also compare the
compressive strength and durability performance of concrete. Fig. 7
shows the results of 7, 28, and 90d compressive strength of HPGC
considered in this study. The trend of different compressive strengths of
6 types of different concretes is basically the same, with 7d compressive
strength being lower, with values ranging from 9.6 to 19.4 MPa, and
only 39.6%–59.2% of 28-d compressive strength. Interestingly, it was
found that HPGC has a better strength potential (Zhao et al., 2018), and
there is still a small increase in concrete strength at 90d, with an increase
of 8.7%–26.9%. HPGC5-90 and HPGC6-90 had the largest increase in
cubic compressive strength, 26.9% and 22.1%, respectively. In fact, it
was found that the effect of 70 and 80% aggregates on the compressive
strength was not very significant, 35.7 MPa, 32.9 MPa, 33.9 MPa, and
32.3 MPa, respectively, with a difference of only 1.6–2.8 MPa, and this
situation expands to 2.9–3.7 MPa at 90d. From the damage pattern of
concrete at 28d and 90d, it can be speculated that this may be due to the
gradual reduction of the boundary between the aggregate and the matrix
as the curing age increases and the weak zone of concrete gradually
changes from the interface transition zone to the aggregate strength
itself.
The splitting tensile strength of concrete is mainly influenced by the
following factors: the properties of the binder and the quality of the
binder-aggregates interface zone (Wang et al., 2021). All specimens of
HPGC in the splitting tensile test at 28d exhibited a typical splitting
tensile failure pattern characterized by a single crack developing along
the center of the cube before failure. The damage pattern of HPGC5-80
and HPGC5-90 is shown in Fig. 9, and two damage modes exist (peeling
damage at the interface and aggregate fracture damage). It can also be
seen that PCBAs are uniformly distributed throughout the concrete
specimens. The splitting tensile strength of the HPGC concrete samples is
shown in Fig. 8 with values ranging from 2.92 MPa to 3.43 MPa, with a
similar trend to the compressive strength. The use of concrete prepared
with high PG content of PCBAs leads to a decrease in the tensile strength
of HPGC5-80 and HPGC5-90 compared to HPGC5-70, the strength de­
creases by 1.2% and 11.2%, respectively. Interestingly, a significant

Fig. 9. Failure Characteristics of HPGC splitting tensile test at 28d.

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T. Sun et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 400 (2023) 136555

Table 5
Characteristic indexes of stress-strain curve of HPGC.
Labels Maximum Strain Ultimate Modulus of
stress Corresponding to Strain elasticity
(MPa) Maximum Stress (mm/mm (GPa)
(mm/mm × 10− 3) × 10− 3)

HPGC5-70 32.08 2.35 3.48 18.52

HPGC5-80 30.18 2.67 3.78 14.63
HPGC5-90 20.69 2.42 3.45 13.56
HPGC6-70 29.32 2.29 3.35 17.32
HPGC6-80 31.64 2.45 3.21 17.54
HPGC6-90 18.74 2.61 3.66 10.67
Typical 36.40 1.51 – 30.27
Concretes (
Chen et al.,
2022)

strength and splitting strength of HPGC will show different degrees of

Fig. 10. Dry density of HPGC in relation to its compressive strength and
splitting tensile strength at 28d.
increase. It should be noted that the comprehensive density is used here,
and the effect of the density difference is caused by the change in the
total amount of PG and the total amount of mineral powder in PCBAs
and EPSC on the change of concrete strength. Since there are simulta­
neous changes in the composition ratio between matrix and aggregate,
the correlation between compressive strength, splitting strength, and
dry density may be caused by the combined effect of multiple factors
coupled.

3.4. Stress-strain behaviour

The compressive behavior of HPGC can be better understood by

plotting the stress-strain behavior. The stress-strain behavior of 6 types
of different concretes is shown in Fig. 11. HPGC specimens were tested
under uniaxial compression with gradual application of vertical loads,
and the stresses inside the specimens gradually increased, but due to the
non-homogeneity of the concrete material and the development of in­
ternal damage, the ratio of isotropic stresses at a point kept changing
until complete damage was reached. All concrete specimens showed a
similar pattern of stress-strain behavior. All curves were divided into
four phases: elastic phase, elastoplasticity phase, yield phase, and frac­
ture phase. A better linear relationship between stress-strain existed for
all rising segments of the HPGC curves, which were similar to the stress-
strain curve patterns of ordinary Portland cement concrete (Yu et al.,
2022; Zhang et al., 2021). The significant differences observed were the
large decreases in peak stresses with P90, 22.4 MPa and 18.7 MPa, and
Fig. 11. Stress-strain curves of HPGC and typical concrete.
the larger strains of concrete at peak stresses, 2.42 × 10− 3mm/mm and

decrease in splitting/comprehensive ratio was observed for HPGC5-90

and HPGC6-90, and the gap between compressive and splitting
strengths was reduced, which may be related to their lower aggregate
quality. The use of P70 and P80 did not significantly change the splitting
tensile strength behavior of HPGC. In general, Portland concrete with
high compressive strength usually has higher splitting tensile resistance
(Islam et al., 2022), and in fact, this principle still holds in HPGC.
In order to further quantify the properties of HPGC in terms of
physical and mechanical behavior, a comparison was made between its
dry density and mechanical properties. Fig. 10 shows the relationship
between the compressive and splitting tensile strength of HPGC at 28d
and the dry density, and it can be seen that as the density of concrete
increases, its compressive and splitting strengths show the same upward
trend, and there is a good correlation between them. This is not difficult
to explain from the composition of the concrete, the aggregate and
matrix in the type of raw materials are basically the same, the difference
is that the PG and GGBS admixtures are different, and their densities are
2.32 g/cm3 and 2.81 g/cm3. GGBS content increases in a certain range,
which will make the mixture density increase. GGBS as the main active
material in EPSC, with its content increases, then the compressive
Fig. 12. Water absorption of HPGC at 28d.

8
T. Sun et al.
Fig. 13. XRD patterns of HPGC (G-gypsum, E-ettringite).
3
2.61 × 10− mm/mm, respectively. In addition, it was found that the
stress and strain curves of HPGC containing P70 and P80 were not
significantly different, which may be due to the similar quality of these
two aggregates. The characteristic indicators of stress-strain curves
include peak stress, peak strain and modulus of elasticity, and the test
results are shown in Table 5. Compared with normal concrete, it can be
found that HPSC has a lower modulus of elasticity for a small difference
in peak strength. This may be related to its unique hydration products
and structure. In addition to ettringite, C-A-S-H gel, and TAH, the hy­
dration products of this cement have some unreacted gypsum, as well as
a small amount of secondary gypsum (Xie et al., 2022), and the differ­
ences in hydration products are eventually reflected at the macroscopic
level.
3.5. Water absorption
Permeability is an important parameter to evaluate the degree of
compactness and internal pore characteristics of concrete (Khatib and
Mangat, 1995). This section evaluates the compactness of concrete by
testing the water absorption of HPGC. The durability of concrete is
closely related to its absorption characteristics, and most good concretes
do not exceed 10% water absorption. Fig. 12 shows the water absorption
of all mixtures at 28d. Water absorption of all mixtures is less than 2.5%,
which is lower than that of ordinary Portland cement concrete for the
same strength class, a finding that is consistent with the results of
cement resistance to chloride ion penetration (Pinto et al., 2020b). The
concrete prepared using P90 has a higher water absorption, with
HPGC5-90 and HPGC6-90 absorbing about 1.92% and 2.35%, respec­
tively. This is related to the physical properties of the aggregates, and
the water absorption of P90 aggregate in this experiment is about
11.88%, which is much higher than that of P70 and P80.
3.6. Hydration products analysis
3.6.1. XRD
As shown in Fig. 13, ettringite and gypsum are the main mineral
crystalline phases of HPGCs, with their characteristic peaks located at
9.1◦ and 11.6◦ , respectively. The gypsum peak originates from the
anhydrate PG, which proves that PG is in excess in the system. ettringite
is one of the main hydration products of the system, and its content can
be used as an indicator of the degree of hydration; it can be found from
the XRD pattern that the peak intensity of ettringite increases as the age
increases from 7d to 28 d, indicating that the content of hydration
9
Journal of Cleaner Production 400 (2023) 136555
Fig. 14. DTG-DSC spectrums of HPGC.
products increases, indicating that the system is continued hydration.
Except for ettringite and anhydrate PG, other hydration products such as
portlandite (main peaks at 18◦ , 28.7◦ , and 34.1◦ ) and monosulfide cal­
cium sulfate (AFm) (main peak at 10◦ ) are not found, which is partly
because the percentage of alkali activator cement is very low (≤5%) in
this system, and secondly the generation of ettringite consumes the
portlandite generated by cement reaction (Juenger et al., 2011),
ettringite (AFt) remains stable in an excess sulfate environment and does
not undergo a transformation to AFm (Wang, 2022a). Due to the high
crystalline phase content, dispersion peaks corresponding to hydration
products in the amorphous state (e.g., C–S–H gels) cannot be observed in
the XRD patterns.
3.6.2. DTG -DSC
To further analyze the hydration products, thermogravimetric
analysis of HPGCs was carried out, and the results are shown in Fig. 14.
In the DTG-DSC curves of each sample, two obvious dehydration peaks
could be observed in the range of 50–200 ◦ C, and two exothermic peaks
appeared in the corresponding DSC curves. The peaks around 85–140 ◦ C
are related to the thermal decomposition of calcium alumina and C–S–H
gels (Gruskovnjak et al., 2008), and the continuous endothermic peaks
of 140–180 ◦ C indicate the anhydrate gypsum (Gijbels, 2019), and the
dehydration peak of gypsum is connected with the dehydration peak of
hydration products, indicating that two dehydration reactions occur
simultaneously, while the total mass of each substance is difficult to
quantify accurately. Nevertheless, it is still evident from the figure that
the peak intensity of the dehydration peak of gypsum is higher for
HPGC6 compared to HPGC5, both at 7d and 28d. This is consistent with
the higher PG content in its compound composition, indicating that the
difference in raw material ratios significantly affects the hydration
behavior. According to Liu (X. Liu et al., 2019), the degree of crystal­
linity of ettringite affects the decomposition temperature, i.e., a drop in
crystallinity would move the heat-absorption peak forwards and accel­
erate the dehydration rate (A drop in crystallinity would move the
heat-absorption peak forwards and accelerate the dehydration rate).
From Fig. 14, it can be concluded that the peaks at 85-140 ◦ C for the 7d
sample have lower peak intensities of the dehydration peaks compared
to the 28d, and the peak centers are located closer to the direction of
temperature decrease, which indicates that the hydration products are
less at 7d compared to 28d, and the crystallinity of calcium alumina is
worse and less thermally stable than 28d. In addition, no significant
peaks were found in any of the DTG-DSC curves near 450 ◦ C, indicating
the deficiency of portlandite (Bakolas et al., 2006). Overall, the results of
thermogravimetric analysis were in general agreement with the results
of XRD analysis.
T. Sun et al. Journal of Cleaner Production 400 (2023) 136555

Table 6
Elemental concentration of the leachate in the static leaching test (28 d of leaching) (mg/L).
Sample-28d Concentration

Ag As Cd Cr Cu Hg Mn Pb Zn P

PG Nd 0.0679 0.0012 0.0157 0.2871 Nd 1.806 0.0574 1.233 138.6933

HPGC5-70 Nd Nd Nd Nd 0.0031 Nd 0.0008 0.0032 0.0996 0.0839
HPGC5-80 Nd 0.0025 Nd 0.0003 0.0117 Nd 0.0086 0.0051 0.0464 0.0834
HPGC5-90 Nd 0.0019 0.0004 Nd 0.0116 Nd 0.0160 0.0054 0.1027 0.0931
HPGC6-70 Nd 0.0012 Nd Nd 0.0198 Nd 0.0176 0.0043 0.0936 0.0879
HPGC6-80 Nd 0.0012 Nd 0.0003 0.0197 Nd 0.0168 0.0044 0.0416 0.1108
HPGC6-90 Nd 0.0011 0.0004 0.0004 0.0100 Nd 0.0133 0.0055 0.0760 0.1129
GB/T 14848: Category III 0.05 0.01 0.005 0.05 1.00 0.001 0.1 0.01 1.00 /

Nd: Not detectable.

Table 7
Elemental concentration of the leachate in the static leaching test (56 d of leaching) (mg/L).
Sample-56d Concentration

Ag As Cd Cr Cu Hg Mn Pb Zn P

HPGC5-70 Nd 0.0013 Nd 0.0003 0.0010 0.0005 0.0007 0.0042 0.0056 0.0937

HPGC5-80 Nd 0.0027 0.0003 Nd 0.0012 Nd 0.0008 0.0054 0.0086 0.0879
HPGC5-90 Nd 0.0016 0.0003 0.0003 0.0024 Nd 0.0023 0.0061 0.0023 0.1210
HPGC6-70 Nd 0.0017 0.0004 Nd 0.0022 Nd 0.0021 0.0044 0.0132 0.1052
HPGC6-80 Nd 0.0013 0.0003 Nd 0.0021 Nd 0.0017 0.0053 0.0072 0.1323
HPGC6-90 Nd 0.0018 0.0004 0.0003 0.0016 Nd 0.0020 0.0064 0.0093 0.1435
GB/T 14848: Category III 0.05 0.01 0.005 0.05 1.00 0.001 0.1 0.01 1.00 /

Nd: Not detectable.

Table 8
Activity concentration of the radionuclides, IRa and Ir of HPGC.
Labels Activity concentration (Bq/kg) IRa Ir GB 6566–2010
226 232 4
Ra Th K IRa Ir

PG 51.4 5.8 91.8 0.257 0.189 ≤1.0 ≤1.0

HPGC6-90 32.9 6.1 87.7 0.165 0.141

substances is an important form of solidification of heavy metals

Fig. 15. Concentration of heavy elements in leachate of HPGC (28d, 56d).
3.7. Environmental benefits
Despite the satisfactory mechanical properties obtained for HPGC,
the environmental behavior of impurities in concrete prepared with PG
must be considered. The presence of hazardous impurities in phospho­
gypsum makes it limited in construction applications. This study
investigated the P, heavy metal leaching, and radioactivity in phos­
phogypsum and HPGC. Tables 6 and 7 demonstrate the leaching of P and
heavy metals from phosphogypsum and HPGC at 28d and 56d, respec­
tively. Excitingly, HPGC has a good curing ability for them and its
leaching at 56d did not show a significant increase compared to 28d
(Fig. 15). The limited leaching of heavy metals from HPGC reflects the
strong stability of the material. It is noteworthy that HPGC showed su­
perb solidification effect on P, and the dissolution results were all below
0.15 mg/L. For cementitious materials, the generation of insoluble
(Gougar et al., 1996; Li, 2001) and P elements (Liu et al., 2020) in
cementitious materials, and the alkaline environment in cementitious
materials induces heavy metal ions to form hydroxides or to cooperate
with calcium to form complex hydroxides. In addition, the C–S–H gels
and ettringite in the hydration products further solidify impurities by
adsorption and ion or ionophore substitution. Furthermore, according to
Chinese standard GB 6566–2010, the activity of PG and HPG6-90 was
tested for 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 4 K specific activity (Table 8). The results
showed that IRa and Ir were well below 1.0, indicating that the content of
HPGC6-90 radionuclides was within acceptable limits.
Table 9 shows the mass of phosphogypsum consumed per 1 m3 of
HPGC produced according to the 6 types of concrete ratios in the
experiment, and the results are still considerable. According to different
concrete strength classes, corresponding combination schemes between
HPGC and PCBAs were formulated. Only 6 types of combination
schemes are listed in this experiment, and further such schemes need to
be added in later studies to obtain a larger range of concrete strength
classes to meet the needs of HPGC in different scenarios. From the
environmental point of view, the feasibility of large-scale recycling of
PG is well proven by using PG as the main raw material in the production
process of HPGC.
4. Conclusion
In this study, the process of preparing HPGC using EPSC and PCBAs
was described in detail, and the mechanical properties and environ­
mental benefits of 6 types of HPGC were investigated to evaluate their
feasibility in engineering applications and further broaden the

10
T. Sun et al.
Table 9
Phosphogypsum consumption HPGC (kg/m3).
HPGC5-70 HPGC5-80
3
PG consumption/1 m concrete 760 824
utilization of phosphogypsum. According to the experimental results,
the following conclusions can be drawn.
The fresh bulk density and 28d dry density of HPGC were between
2140 and 2200 kg/m3 and 2030–2090 kg/m3, respectively. The water
absorption of all mixtures was lower than 2.5%. With the increase of PG
content in PCBA, the fresh density and dry density of HPGC showed a
decreasing trend, and the water absorption slightly increased. The 28d
dry densities of the concrete are all higher than 1950 kg/m3.
The 7d compressive strength of the mixture ranged from 9.6 to 19.4
MPa, which was about 39.6%–59.2% of the 28d compressive strength.
The modulus of elasticity of the concrete prepared in this experiment
ranged from 10 GPa to 20 GPa, which was significantly lower than the
modulus of elasticity of general concrete.
HPGC shows good solidification capability for hazardous matters
including phosphorous, heavy metals and radioactive elements. There
was no significant increase in its leaching at 56 days compared with 28
days, and the P dissolution amount of all HPGC specimens was less than
0.15 ml/L. All experimental results were in accordance with Chinese
standard GB/T 14848: Category III. In this study, the content of HPGC6-
90 radionuclides was within the acceptable range, with IRa and Ir well
below 1.0.
This study confirms that HPGC is a promising technology for green
building. In this experiment, only a limited number of combinations
were chosen, with a consumption of PG at about 800 kg/m3 concrete. In
future studies, the concrete technology would be further exploited, with
broader considerations on durability, versatile mix proportions, and
matrix-aggregate compatibility.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Tao Sun: Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing,
Funding acquisition, Project administration. Wanmin Li: Methodology,
Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. Fang Xu: Methodology, Su­
pervision, Writing – review & editing. Zechuan Yu: Methodology, Su­
pervision, Writing – review & editing. Ziyan Wang: Conceptualization,
Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Methodology, Validation.
Gaoshang Ouyang: Writing – review & editing. Dong Xu: Writing –
review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the
National Key R&D Program of China (No.2021YFC3100805), the Third
Batch of Special Fund for Science and Technology Development of
Zhongshan City in 2020 (2020–18), the Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and
Technology City Administration (No. SKJC-KJ-2019KY02), Funda­
mental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Nos. 2020III042 and
205259003), major science and technology project in Zhongshan city
(No. 200825093739256), and China Scholarship Council.
11
Journal of Cleaner Production 400 (2023) 136555
HPGC5-90 HPGC6-70 HPGC6-80 HPGC6-90
857 810 874 907
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