Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
An evaluation of the environmental impact and energy efficiency of producing geopolymer mortar with plastic aggregates. / Lazorenko, Georgy; Kravchenko, Ekaterina; Kasprzhitskii, Anton et al.
In: Resources, Conservation and Recycling Advances, Vol. 22, 200216, 10.2024.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - An evaluation of the environmental impact and energy efficiency of producing geopolymer mortar with plastic aggregates
AU - Lazorenko, Georgy
AU - Kravchenko, Ekaterina
AU - Kasprzhitskii, Anton
AU - Fini, Elham H.
N1 - This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (No. 19-79-10266, https://rscf.ru/project/19-79-10266/).
PY - 2024/10
Y1 - 2024/10
N2 - The imperative to mitigate carbon emissions and seek sustainable alternatives to cementitious materials has driven the advancement of geopolymer binders, which are inorganic binders of aluminosilicate industrial-waste materials activated by alkaline agents. The use of geopolymers carries the potential for significant reductions in greenhouse gas emission. Furthermore, the incorporation of plastic waste as aggregates addresses not only resource conservation but also environmental sustainability. This study conducted a comprehensive life-cycle assessment of the use of geopolymers from fly ash as a precursor with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste as a substitute for natural aggregates. It was observed that when replacing natural aggregates with PET waste to the maximum extent, the global warming potential (GWP) in the category of emissions related to aggregate preparation increased by 16.7 %. This increase was attributed to significant emissions generated during PET processing, including activities such as washing and grinding. The total GWP to produce one cubic meter of geopolymer mixture was 643.55 kgCO2-e without PET aggregates and 667.86 kgCO2-e with maximum use of PET aggregates. The optimization of energy-intensive PET preparation processes led to a remarkable reduction of 19.63 % for production of geopolymer mixture with maximum use of PET aggregates. These findings show the potential for improved sustainability in the production of geopolymer mixtures and emphasize the critical role of optimizing the production processes in mitigating their environmental impact.
AB - The imperative to mitigate carbon emissions and seek sustainable alternatives to cementitious materials has driven the advancement of geopolymer binders, which are inorganic binders of aluminosilicate industrial-waste materials activated by alkaline agents. The use of geopolymers carries the potential for significant reductions in greenhouse gas emission. Furthermore, the incorporation of plastic waste as aggregates addresses not only resource conservation but also environmental sustainability. This study conducted a comprehensive life-cycle assessment of the use of geopolymers from fly ash as a precursor with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste as a substitute for natural aggregates. It was observed that when replacing natural aggregates with PET waste to the maximum extent, the global warming potential (GWP) in the category of emissions related to aggregate preparation increased by 16.7 %. This increase was attributed to significant emissions generated during PET processing, including activities such as washing and grinding. The total GWP to produce one cubic meter of geopolymer mixture was 643.55 kgCO2-e without PET aggregates and 667.86 kgCO2-e with maximum use of PET aggregates. The optimization of energy-intensive PET preparation processes led to a remarkable reduction of 19.63 % for production of geopolymer mixture with maximum use of PET aggregates. These findings show the potential for improved sustainability in the production of geopolymer mixtures and emphasize the critical role of optimizing the production processes in mitigating their environmental impact.
KW - Carbon emissions
KW - Environmental impact
KW - Global warming potential
KW - Plastic waste
KW - Polyethylene terephthalate
KW - Environmental impact
KW - Polyethylene terephthalate
KW - Plastic waste
KW - Carbon emissions
KW - Global warming potential
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/cfe294eb-3c7c-38f4-ae68-790f848001a2/
U2 - 10.1016/j.rcradv.2024.200216
DO - 10.1016/j.rcradv.2024.200216
M3 - Article
VL - 22
JO - Resources, Conservation and Recycling Advances
JF - Resources, Conservation and Recycling Advances
SN - 2667-3789
M1 - 200216
ER -
ID: 60796215