Stabilization of High-Volume Circulating Fluidized Bed Fly Ash Composite Gravels via Gypsum-Enhanced Pressurized Flue Gas Heat Curing

Circulating fluidized bed fly ash (CFBFA) stockpiles release alkaline dust, high-pH leachate, and secondary CO 2 /SO 2 —an environmental burden that exceeds 240 Mt yr −1 in China alone. Yet, barely 25% is recycled, because the high f-CaO/SO 3 contents destabilize conventional cementitious products. Here, we presents a pressurized flue gas heat curing (FHC) route to bridge this scientific deficit, converting up to 85 wt% CFBFA into structural lightweight gravel. The gypsum dosage was optimized, and a 1:16 (gypsum/CFBFA) ratio delivered the best compromise between early ettringite nucleation and CO 2 -uptake capacity, yielding the highest overall quality. The optimal mix reaches 9.13 MPa 28-day crushing strength, 4.27% in situ CO 2 uptake, 1.75 g cm −3 bulk density, and 3.59% water absorption. Multi-technique analyses (SEM, XRD, FTIR, TG-DTG, and MIP) show that FHC rapidly consumes expansive phases, suppresses undesirable granular-ettringite formation, and produces a dense calcite/needle-AFt skeleton. The FHC-treated CFBFA composite gravel demonstrates 30.43% higher crushing strength than JTG/TF20-2015 standards, accompanied by a water absorption rate 28.2% lower than recent studies. Its superior strength and durability highlight its potential as a low-carbon lightweight aggregate for structural engineering. A life-cycle inventory gives a cradle-to-gate energy demand of 1128 MJ t −1 and a process GWP of 226 kg CO 2 -eq t −1 . Consequently, higher point-source emissions paired with immediate mineral sequestration translate into a low overall climate footprint and eliminate the need for CFBFA landfilling.