abstract
Sustainability in construction is a major concern worldwide, due to the huge volume of materials and energy consumed by this sector. Associated supplementing industries (e.g. Portland cement production) constitute a significant source of CO2 emissions and global warming. Valorisation and reuse of industrial wastes and by-products make geopolymers a solid and sustainable via to be followed as a valid alternative to Portland cement. In this work the mix design of a green fly ash-based geopolymer is evaluated as an environmentally friendly construction material. In the pursuit of sustainability, wastes from a regional kraft pulp industry are exploited for the material processing. Furthermore, a simple, reproducible, and low-cost manufacture is used. The mix design is hence optimised in order to improve the desirable mechanical performance of the material intended for structural applications in construction. Tests indicate that geopolymers may efficiently substitute the ordinary Portland cement as a mortar/concrete binder. Furthermore, valorisation and reuse of wastes in geopolymers is a suboptimal way of gaining financial surplus for the involved industrial players, while contributes for the implementation of a desirable circular economy.
keywords
CONCRETE; TECHNOLOGY; EMISSIONS; INDUSTRY
subject category
Construction & Building Technology; Materials Science
authors
Saeli, M; Novais, RM; Seabra, MP; Labrincha, JA
our authors
João António Labrincha Baptista
Full professor
Manfredi Saeli
Post-Doc Fellowship
Maria Paula Seabra
Assistant Professor
Rui Miguel Novais
Assistant Professoracknowledgements
This work is financed by Portugal 2020 through European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the frame of Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme (POCI) in the scope of the project PROTEUS - POCI-01-0247-FEDER-017729 and in the scope of the project CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials CTM /50011 (Compete Refrence:POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007679), Associated Laboratory of University of Aveiro, co-financed by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia/MCTES.