TY - JOUR

T1 - Utilization of sodium waterglass from sugar cane bagasse ash as a new alternative hardener for producing metakaolin-based geopolymer cement

AU - Tchakouté, Hervé Kouamo

AU - Rüscher, Claus Henning

AU - Hinsch, Malte

AU - Authority, Local Materials

AU - Authority, Local Materials

AU - Leonelli, Cristina

N1 - Funding information: Hervé Tchakouté Kouamo gratefully acknowledges the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for financially support his Postdoctoral research (N° KAM/1155741 STP) in Institut für Mineralogie, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany and also thank the SOSUCAM Company for providing the sugar cane bagasse used in this investigation. The authors wish to express special thanks to the editor in charge, Prof. J. Majzlan and to Dr. D. Neave for the proofreading of the manuscript.

PY - 2017/4/24

Y1 - 2017/4/24

N2 - Sugar cane bagasse ash from SOSUCAM company in Cameroon was used to synthesize sodium waterglass as a new alternative hardener. The new hardener was used to prepare metakaolin-based geopolymer cements. The compressive strength of the resulting geopolymer cement cured at room temperature for 28 days was 32.9 MPa. Samples soaked for 28 days in water in parallel experiments revealed a strength of 31.4 MPa. This shows that exposure of water does not lead to any weakening. The value of water absorption was 7.1% in the water-soaked cements, indicating the presence of fewer pores and voids than in the dry cements. However, in SEM micrographs, the microstructure of geopolymer cement appears rather homogeneous and compact without any change by water soaking. It can thus be concluded that sodium waterglass from sugar cane bagasse ash can be used as an alternative hardener or reactive ingredient for producing geopolymer cement with a high degree of cross-linking geopolymer framework. The use of this low-value silica-rich waste for producing sodium waterglass results in environmental benefits including a significant reduction of CO2 emission and energy consumption compared to the production of commercial sodium waterglass.

AB - Sugar cane bagasse ash from SOSUCAM company in Cameroon was used to synthesize sodium waterglass as a new alternative hardener. The new hardener was used to prepare metakaolin-based geopolymer cements. The compressive strength of the resulting geopolymer cement cured at room temperature for 28 days was 32.9 MPa. Samples soaked for 28 days in water in parallel experiments revealed a strength of 31.4 MPa. This shows that exposure of water does not lead to any weakening. The value of water absorption was 7.1% in the water-soaked cements, indicating the presence of fewer pores and voids than in the dry cements. However, in SEM micrographs, the microstructure of geopolymer cement appears rather homogeneous and compact without any change by water soaking. It can thus be concluded that sodium waterglass from sugar cane bagasse ash can be used as an alternative hardener or reactive ingredient for producing geopolymer cement with a high degree of cross-linking geopolymer framework. The use of this low-value silica-rich waste for producing sodium waterglass results in environmental benefits including a significant reduction of CO2 emission and energy consumption compared to the production of commercial sodium waterglass.

KW - Geopolymer cements

KW - Sodium hydroxide

KW - Sodium waterglass

KW - Sugar cane bagasse ash

KW - Water resistance

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85018853140&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.chemer.2017.04.003

DO - 10.1016/j.chemer.2017.04.003

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85018853140

VL - 77

SP - 257

EP - 266

JO - Chemie der Erde

JF - Chemie der Erde

SN - 0009-2819

IS - 2

ER -