Environmental impact assessment of fly ash and silica fume based geopolymer concrete

Abstract Alkali activated geopolymer is an attractive solution to limit the adverse consequences of cement manufacturing. In this paper, an evaluation of environmental impacts of geopolymer containing fly ash and silica fume is conducted. Life cycle assessment is performed by benchmarking the environmental impacts of three geopolymer concrete mixes against the conventional cement concrete, namely: fly ash geopolymer (with hydroxide and silicate of sodium); fly ash–silica fume blend geopolymer (with hydroxide and silicate of sodium); and fly ash–silica fume blend geopolymer (with sodium hydroxide). Impact analysis is performed by using ReCiPe midpoint and endpoint methods in life cycle assessment software UMBERTO NXT using database of Ecoinvent 3.0. Sensitivity analysis is performed to determine the effect of transportation. One mix design for each concrete of equal water to binder ratio and 28-days compressive strength of more than 35 MPa is analysed. Results of life cycle assessment indicate that alkaline activators and cement are the major sources of negative environmental impacts for geopolymer and cement concrete, respectively. Global warming potential of geopolymer concretes is lower than conventional cement concrete. Fly ash–silica fume geopolymer concrete activated without sodium silicate has lowest environmental impacts. Transportation of raw materials is found to increase the overall negative of all four concrete mixes. Cost reduction of 10.87%–17.77% per unit volume is achieved with the use of fly ash – silica fume based geopolymer concrete. Sustainability in terms of cost and environmental benefits of geopolymer concrete can be further increased by using silica fume. It can be concluded that the use of fly ash – silica fume blended geopolymer in the construction industry has huge possibility to improve its sustainability. Furthermore, waste management can be effectively done by utilization of industrial by-products in concrete.