Alkali-activated mortars blended with glass bottle waste nano powder: environmental benefit and sustainability

Abstract

In the urban regions worldwide, saving energy, lowering carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and disposing waste arising from the manufacturing of diverse consumer products remain major challenges. Annually, million tons of glass bottle wastes are generated and only a few percent are recycled. In this study, glass bottles waste Nano powder (BGWNP) was prepared by replacing ground blast furnace slag (GBFS) in fly ash-based alkali-activated mortars (AAMs). The main aim was to evaluate the energy consumption, cost effectiveness, mechanical and chemical properties of the achieved BGWNP blended AAMs. Reuse of such wastes was found to enhance the mechanical and durability properties of the resultant AAMs as well as reduced CO2 emissions. For AAM incorporating 5% of BGWNP as GBFS replacement, the CO2 emission reduced (over 6%), compressive strength enhanced (above 16%) and the durability improved with reduced water absorption. Additionally, it lowered the binder cost and energy consumption by 3.4 and 1.3%, respectively. Furthermore, AAM composed of 10% BGWNP revealed reduced strength performance. It was concluded that the proposed AAMs obtained using BGWNP offer definitive environmental benefits by minimizing global warming. Given that concrete still is the most used man-made material universally, such proposition would significantly reduce the landfill requirements for glass waste that is unsuitable for recycled glass production.