Comparison of the Effectiveness of Reducing the Leaching of Formaldehyde from Immobilized Wool in Geopolymer and Cement Mortar

Abstract

Innovative building materials should also be pro-environmental. This article discusses the environmental footprint of geopolymer and cement-based mortars. It describes the methodology for preparing geopolymer and cement mortars using mineral wool waste. The phenol–formaldehyde resin used in mineral wool is a source of phenol and formaldehyde emissions to the environment. The prepared mortar samples were subjected to durability tests to assess the correlation between the amount of mineral wool and the flexural and compressive strength of the samples. The key element of the paper is to test whether immobilisation of mineral wool in the geopolymer will reduce leaching of phenol and formaldehyde into the environment. The results revealed that cements prepared with mineral wool showed higher compressive strength, whereas geopolymer samples had better flexural strength. The study also proved that immobilisation of the wool in the geopolymer reduces phenol and formaldehyde leaching significantly.

The Effect of Mineral Wool Fiber Additive on Several Mechanical Properties and Thermal Conductivity in Geopolymer Binder

“…These publications only describe the compressive strength properties, with no information on flexural strength. The previous publication issued by the team [2] contains both compressive and flexural strength studies; nevertheless, the research described is on metakaolin-wool-based geopolymer. The article in question presents research on geopolymers made of wool and norm sand.…”

“…Geopolymers represent a group of synthetic, inorganic, aluminosilicate polymers. Although these materials are currently experiencing a renaissance due to their great potential in waste recycling, according to the literature, geopolymers were used as early as 25,000 years ago [2]. The definition of geopolymers was introduced into the literature by Professor Joseph Davidovits in 1978 [18].…”