Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Conventional, Glass Powder, and Alkali-Activated Slag Concrete and Mortar

Innovations in cement-based materials: Addressing sustainability in structural and infrastructure applications

“…Such materials should enhance the properties of concrete and ideally should be readily and widely available, consistent in quality, and lower or comparable in cost to cement-a tall order, indeed! As candidate ASCMs, researchers are examining by-product materials, including crushed recycled glass 23 and lower-quality combustion residuals (e.g., biomass, co-fi red ashes, and previously impounded fl y ash), as well as natural materials including zeolites and kaolin of varying quality. 24 -31 Beyond using these materials in their existing states, various low-cost, lowenvironmental-impact processing methods, such as heat treatment, alkali activation, and acid treatment, can enhance their reactivity with cement.…”

Quantitative Analysis of Phase Assemblage and Chemical Shrinkage of Alkali-Activated Slag

“…Significant amount of work has been recently focused on AAS and the research outcomes show that AAS binders can achieve high strength, low permeability, and strong fire resistance (Douglas et al 1992;. In addition, in comparison with OPC, production of AAS can result in considerable reduction in the embodied energy and carbon dioxide emissions (Jiang et al 2014). On the other hand, AAS materials present challenges, such as high shrinkage, rapid carbonation, formation of salt efflorescence, potential alkali-silica reaction, causticity of activator (safety and health issues), and lacks of relevant material testing standardization Douglas et al 1992;Juenger et al 2011;Shi et al 2005;Wardhono et al 2015;Ye et al 2014), that still needs to be addressed before wider application of these alternative binders.…”

Quantitative assessment of parameters that affect strength development in alkali activated fly ash binders

“…The major motivation for development of these new binders is to improve concrete sustainability by replacing Portland cement, which is the concrete's major ingredient with the highest embodied energy (approximately 5.7 MJ/kg of cement) and carbon footprint (0.87-0.97 kg/kg of cement) [4,5]. In comparison with Portland cement, alkali activated binders have a fraction of the energy use and CO 2 footprint; although the use of alkaline activators introduces some environmental costs such as increased risk of eco-toxicity [6,7]. In addition to environmental benefits, alkali activated binders could be advantageous due to their strong durability against fire, water and chloride penetration, and chemical/acid attack [8,9].…”