Quantitative Assessment of Alkali-Activated Materials: Environmental Impact and Property Assessments
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 26, Issue 3
Abstract
This study compares greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, embodied energy, and air pollutant emissions of alkali-activated mortars and conventional portland cement (PC)-based mortars. Alkali-activated materials (AAMs) do not require the use of PC to offer cementitious properties; these materials can valorize industrial waste streams and noncementitious natural resources. In this work, several AAMs containing blast-furnace slag and natural pozzolans were examined. Comparisons were drawn both based on the production on of material and based on ratios of GHG emissions to mortar strength. To facilitate robust assessments, mechanical and material properties were determined. GHG emissions, embodied energy, and nitrogen oxides (), sulfur oxides (), carbon monoxide (CO), and lead (Pb) emissions for the alkali-activated mortars were lower than their conventional counterparts. However, the AAMs exhibited higher volatile organic compound (VOC) and particulate matter 10 microns or smaller (PM10) emissions. When ratios of GHG emissions to strength were examined, results indicated that the lower environmental impacts of AAMs could be desirable relative to PC mortars, even when the AAMs displayed lower mechanical strength. These findings suggest that, depending on application, AAMs could contribute to environmental impact-mitigation strategies.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request (experimental data and life-cycle impacts).
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Valerie Yanez and Kanotha Kamau-Devers at the University of California Davis for the assistance in the laboratory.
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Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 26 • Issue 3 • September 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 3, 2019
Accepted: Feb 6, 2020
Published online: May 12, 2020
Published in print: Sep 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Oct 12, 2020
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