Sacrificial agents for fly ash concrete

A method of addressing the variance of carbon content in fly ash used in cementitious compositions to provide a cementitious composition with a substantially constant level of air entrainment, comprising:

• forming a cementitious mixture comprising water, cement, fly ash, an air entrainment agent, and a sacrificial agent and entraining air in the mixture, wherein the fly ash has a maximum carbon content;
• and
• selecting a sacrificial agent for the cementitious mixture and an amount of the sacrificial agent such that the amount of the sacrificial agent exceeds the amount necessary to neutralize the maximum carbon content in the fly ash,
• wherein the sacrificial agent comprises a material or mixture of materials that, when present in the same cementitious mixture without fly ash in said amount causes less than 2 vol. % additional air content in the cementitious mixture, and
• wherein the sacrificial agent comprises an organic compound, with the proviso that said sacrificial agent does not comprise polyethylene glycol (PEG) or aromatic compounds having carboxylic acid groups, or salts thereof.