Preparation of Geopolymer Bricks from Industrial Wastes

Mohamed, A. Yahya; Anwar, M. Madany; Abd El-Aziz, A. Amr; Abd El-Aziz, O. Mohamed; El-Naggar, K. A.M.

doi:10.21608/iugrc.2021.246399

Preparation of Geopolymer Bricks from Industrial Wastes

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Egyptian Academy for Engineering and Advanced Technology, Cairo, Egypt.

² assistant professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Egyptian Academy for Engineering and Advanced Technology, Cairo, Egypt.

10.21608/iugrc.2021.246399

Abstract

Geopolymer, categorized as an inorganic polymer, which is mostly made from silicon and aluminium materials or can be manufactured from fly ash. The main advantage of geopolymer technology comparing to that of fired clay bricks is to decrease harmful emissions. In seashore buildings where continuous erosion takes place in that situation, geopolymer plays an important role to minimize the erosion effect. The essential goal of the present study is to prepare geopolymer bricks from cheap raw materials, mainly industrial wastes to be used in the construction industry. The environmental benefits of recycling construction and demolition wastes in the geopolymer bricks industry decrease the negative impact of their dump filling on the environment, besides reducing CO2 emission in the atmosphere that is produced from firing normal bricks. The raw materials used are construction and demolition solid wastes as a substituent with different proportions to homra (waste from fired clay brick industry), calcium hydroxide (waste resulting from acetylene industry), and NaOH. The raw materials were characterized by XRD, XRF. The water blended mixes were moulded, air-dried at room temperature, and tested on compressive strength, bulk density, and water absorption for different curing times (3,7,14 and 28 days). It has been found that 5 wt.% C&D waste replacement for homra yielded a compressive strength of 6.6 MPa at 14 days then there was a decrease in compressive strength values for curing time exceeding 7 days to reach an almost constant value of about 5.4Mpa, with a slight increase in water absorption after 7 days curing time. Mechanical mixing for the 5 wt.% C&D waste replacement was also investigated, yielded a compressive strength of 6.6 MPa, 8.8MPa, 9.1MPa, and 8.4MPa at 3, 7, 14, and 28 days respectively.

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