Mechanical properties of Geopolymer mortar produced by substituting potable water with waste water containing calcium chloride salt (CaCl2)

Authors

  • Dr Tenepalli JaiSai , Dr J.S. Sudarshan

Abstract

With the looming water crisis levels in the world, the continued usage of the potable water in the
preparation of new construction materials is a bad move. Alternative approach in replacing potable water
with wastewater needs to be studied. Geopolymer is a newly developed binder material in which potable
water is being used to formulate the alkaline activation solution (AAS) required to activate the aluminasilicate materials for polymerization to occur. Literature review emphasizes that water doesn’t play a major
role in the reaction mechanism of geopolymer binder, but only assists in increasing the workability of the
final product and at later stages it is expelled. With this in view, laboratory work has been carried out to
assess the possibility of producing geopolymer mortar by replacing potable water with wastewater
containing calcium chloride (CaCl2). Setting times and compressive strength were assessed by varying the
levels of three different processing parameters. The altered levels of processing parameters under this study
were; Molarity(M) of sodium hydroxide (10M, 12M, 14M), ratio of alkaline activation solution (1, 1.5 and
2.0) and levels of calcium chloride in waste effluent with different proportions ranging from (1 g/L to 2
g/L). Outcomes states that, liquid containing calcium chloride does not pose a great danger to the
Geopolymer Mortar mechanical properties, but the content needs to be limited because too much of it, might
affect the setting time.

Published

2020-04-30

Issue

Section

Articles