Geopolymer Concrete Investigation: The ABCs of GPC

Currently, hydrated ordinary portland cement (OPC) is the most common binder used in concrete. The production of OPC requires large amounts of energy, and has a large carbon footprint, emitting approximately 5% of global CO2 emissions annually. Geopolymer cement concrete (GPC) is a relatively new material, with the potential to be an alternative to OPC. GPC has a lower environmental impact, resulting in approximately 85% less CO2 in production as compared to OPC. GPC is produced from fly ash (or other natural pozzolans), sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate. One of the principal CO2 sources and the primary energy consumption in the production of GPC results from the production of the sodium silicate "activator". The current process for producing commercial sodium silicate utilizes pure glass cullet that is subjected to elevated pressures and temperatures. The process of making sodium silicate could be made more sustainable by using discarded packaging glass cullet as an alternative silicate source.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $8000.00
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Michigan Technological University, Houghton

  University Transportation Center for Materials in Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure (UTC-MiSTI)
  1400 Townsend Drive, 301 Dillman Hall
  Houghton, MI  United States  49931
• Project Managers:

  Hoy, Elizabeth

• Performing Organizations:

  Michigan Technological University, Houghton

  University Transportation Center for Materials in Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure (UTC-MiSTI)
  1400 Townsend Drive, 301 Dillman Hall
  Houghton, MI  United States  49931
• Principal Investigators:

  Peterson, Karl

• Start Date: 20090511
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• Source Data: RiP Project 26132

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air quality management; Binders; Carbon; Environmental impacts; Geopolymer concrete; Global warming; Pollutants; Portland cement
• Uncontrolled Terms: Ecological footprinting
• Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; I15: Environment; I30: Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01461512
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: University Transportation Center for Materials in Sustainable Transportation
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 1:47PM