2024/10/09 by Hamid Akbari, Akbari, Hamid, R. Mensah-Biney +3
Engineering · #Concrete and Cement Materials Research #FOS: Environmental engineering
paper · doi:10.4177/ccgp-d-17-00005.1
openalex publication_date 2024/10/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/01
The main objective of this study was to evaluate geopolymer concrete made from coal combustion by-products, disposed of in landfills, as a potential substitute for the ordinary Portland cement (OPC), which is responsible for 5-8% of the total CO2 emissions in the world. In this study, a coal fly ash sample from the Carolinas was used in a chemical process known as geopolymerization to produce a “geopolymer” binder. The developed geopolymer binder could competently substitute the OPC binder in regular concrete applications. An experimental design program was conducted to optimize parameters of the geopolymerization affecting the strength of the final cementless concrete product. Mortar and concrete samples were made to compare the strength of geopolymer with OPC concrete. The results showed that the compressive strength of geopolymer-based products were more than 6700 psi for mortars and 5750 psi for concrete samples, which could effectively compete with OPC concrete. This paper presents the results of the experiments and discusses the effectiveness of the produced cementless binder.