scholarly journals Factors Affecting Alkali Activation of Laterite Acid Leaching Residues

Environments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Komnitsas ◽  
Georgios Bartzas ◽  
Vasiliki Karmali ◽  
Evangelos Petrakis

In this experimental study, the alkali activation of acid leaching residues using a mixture of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and alkaline sodium silicate solution (Na2SiO3) as activators is investigated. The residues were also calcined at 800 and 1000 °C for 2 h or mixed with metakaolin (MK) in order to increase their reactivity. The effect of several parameters, namely the H2O/Na2O and SiO2/Na2O ratios present in the activating solution, the pre–curing time (4–24 h), the curing temperature (40–80 °C), the curing time (24 or 48 h), and the ageing period (7–28 days) on the properties of the produced alkali activated materials (AAMs), including compressive strength, porosity, water absorption, and density, was explored. Analytical techniques, namely X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and elemental mapping analysis were used for the identification of the morphology and structure of the final products. The experimental results show that the laterite acid leaching residues cannot be alkali activated in an unaltered state, and the compressive strength of the produced AAMs barely reaches 1.4 MPa, while the mixing of the residues with 10 wt% metakaolin results in noticeably higher compressive strength (41 MPa). Moreover, the calcination of residues at 800 and 1000 °C has practically no beneficial effect on alkali activation. Alkali activated materials produced under the optimum synthesis conditions were subjected to high temperature firing for 2 h and immersed in distilled water or acidic solution (1 mol L−1 HCl) for 7 and 30 days in order to assess their structural integrity under different environmental conditions. This study explores the potential of alkali activation of laterite leaching residues amended with the addition of metakaolin for the production of AAMS that can be used as binders or in several construction applications in order to enable their valorization and also improve the environmental sustainability of the metallurgical sector.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Komnitsas ◽  
Georgios Bartzas ◽  
Vasiliki Karmali ◽  
Evangelos Petrakis ◽  
Witold Kurylak ◽  
...  

In this study, the alkali activation potential of a Polish ferronickel slag (PS), for the production of inorganic polymers (IPs), is investigated. The effect of the main synthesis parameters, i.e., strength of the activating solution, consisting of NaOH and Na2SiO3 solutions and affecting (SiO2 + Al2O3)/Na2O and other important molar ratios in the reactive paste, pre-curing period, curing temperature and time and ageing period was investigated. The structural integrity of the produced specimens was tested after their (i) immersion in distilled water and acidic solutions for a period of 7–30 days, and (ii) firing at temperatures between 200 °C and 1000 °C. Several analytical techniques including X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Differential scanning analysis-Thermogravimetry and Scanning Electron Microscopy were used for the characterization of the produced IPs. Results show that under the optimum synthesis conditions the IPs obtain compressive strength that exceeds 65 MPa. An innovative aspect of this study is that after heating at 400 °C, the specimens acquire compressive strength of 115 MPa and this indicates that they can be also used as fire resistant materials. This study highlights the potential of alkali activation for the valorization of a ferronickel slag and the production of IPs that can be used as binders or in several construction applications, thus improving the sustainability of the metallurgical sector.


Minerals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangelos Petrakis ◽  
Vasiliki Karmali ◽  
Georgios Bartzas ◽  
Konstantinos Komnitsas

This study aims to model grinding of a Polish ferronickel slag and evaluate the particle size distributions (PSDs) of the products obtained after different grinding times. Then, selected products were alkali activated in order to investigate the effect of particle size on the compressive strength of the produced alkali activated materials (AAMs). Other parameters affecting alkali activation, i.e., temperature, curing, and ageing time were also examined. Among the different mathematical models used to simulate the particle size distribution, Rosin–Rammler (RR) was found to be the most suitable. When piecewise regression analysis was applied to experimental data it was found that the particle size distribution of the slag products exhibits multifractal character. In addition, grinding of slag exhibits non-first-order behavior and the reduction rate of each size is time dependent. The grinding rate and consequently the grinding efficiency increases when the particle size increases, but drops sharply near zero after prolonged grinding periods. Regarding alkali activation, it is deduced that among the parameters studied, particle size (and the respective specific surface area) of the raw slag product and curing temperature have the most noticeable impact on the compressive strength of the produced AAMs.


Materials ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Češnovar ◽  
Traven ◽  
Horvat ◽  
Ducman

Alkali activation is studied as a potential technology to produce a group of high performance building materials from industrial residues such as metallurgical slag. Namely, slags containing aluminate and silicate form a useful solid material when activated by an alkaline solution. The alkali-activated (AA) slag-based materials are promising alternative products for civil engineering sector and industrial purposes. In the present study the locally available electric arc furnace steel slag (Slag A) and the ladle furnace basic slag (Slag R) from different metallurgical industries in Slovenia were selected for alkali activation because of promising amorphous Al/Si rich content. Different mixtures of selected precursors were prepared in the Slag A/Slag R ratios 1/0, 3/1, 1/1, 1/3 and 0/1 and further activated with potassium silicate using an activator to slag ratio of 1:2 in order to select the optimal composition with respect to their mechanical properties. Bending strength of investigated samples ranged between 4 and 18 MPa, whereas compressive strength varied between 30 and 60 MPa. The optimal mixture (Slag A/Slag R = 1/1) was further used to study strength development under the influence of different curing temperatures at room temperature (R. T.), and in a heat-chamber at 50, 70 and 90 °C, and the effects of curing time for 1, 3, 7 and 28 days was furthermore studied. The influence of curing time at room temperature on the mechanical strength at an early age was found to be nearly linear. Further, it was shown that specimens cured at 70 °C for 3 days attained almost identical (bending/compressive) strength to those cured at room temperature for 28 days. Additionally, microstructure evaluation of input materials and samples cured under different conditions was performed by means of XRD, FTIR, SEM and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP).


2014 ◽  
Vol 699 ◽  
pp. 15-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosniza Hanim Abdul Rahim ◽  
Khairun Azizi Azizli ◽  
Zakaria Man ◽  
Muhd Fadhil Nuruddin

Geopolymer is associated with the alkali activation of materials rich in Si and Al, and alkali activator such as sodium hydroxide is used for the dissolution of raw material with the addition of sodium silicate solution to increase the dissolution process. However, the trend of strength development of geopolymer using sodium hydroxide alone is not well established. This paper presents an evaluation on compressive strength of fly ash–based geopolymer by varying curing time with respect to different curing temperature using sodium hydroxide as the only activator. The samples were cured at room temperature and at an elevated temperature (60°C). Further analysis on the microstructure of geopolymer products cured at 60°C was carried out using Field Emission Scanning Microscopy (FESEM). It can be observed that the compressive strength increased as the curing time increased when cured at room temperature; whereas at elevated temperature, the strength increased up to a maximum 65.28 MPa at 14 days but gradually decreased at longer curing time. Better compressive strength can be obtained when the geopolymer was cured at an elevated temperature compared to curing at room temperature.


Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Komnitsas ◽  
Athanasia Soultana ◽  
Georgios Bartzas

In the present study, the valorization potential of marble waste in the presence of metakaolin via alkali activation was explored. The activating solution used consisted of NaOH and sodium silicate solutions. The effects of marble waste to metakaolin ratio, particle size of raw materials, curing temperature, and Na2O/SiO2 and H2O/Na2O molar ratios present in the activating solution on the main properties and the morphology of the produced alkali-activated materials (AAMs) was evaluated. The durability and structural integrity of the AAMs after firing at temperatures between 200 and 600 °C, immersion in deionized water and 1 mol/L NaCl solution for different time periods and subjection to freeze–thaw cycles were also investigated. Characterization techniques including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, mercury intrusion porosimetry and scanning electron microscopy were used in order to study the structure of the produced AAMs. Τhe highest compressive strength (~36 MPa) was achieved by the AAMs prepared with marble waste to metakaolin mass ratio of 0.3 after curing at 40 °C. The results indicated that the utilization of marble waste in the presence of metakaolin enables the production of AAMs with good physical (porosity, density and water absorption) and mechanical properties, thus contributing to the valorization of this waste type and the reduction of the environmental footprint of the marble industry.


Minerals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soultana ◽  
Valouma ◽  
Bartzas ◽  
Komnitsas

This paper explores the alkali activation potential of brick wastes and metallurgical slags. Inorganic polymers (IPs) were produced using an alkaline medium consisting of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solutions and the optimum synthesis conditions were determined. In this context, the variable parameters, such as solid to liquid (S/L) ratio, curing temperature (60, 80 and 90 °C) and ageing time (7 and 28 days) on the compressive strength and the morphology of the produced IPs were investigated. Specimens produced under the optimum synthesis conditions were subjected to high temperature firing and immersed in distilled water and acidic solutions for various periods of time, in order to assess their durability and structural integrity. The results showed that the IPs produced using a mix ratio of 50 wt % metallurgical slag and 50 wt % brick wastes, cured at 90 °C and aged for 7 days obtained the highest compressive strength (48.9 MPa). X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), particle size analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), mineralogical analysis (XRD), mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis also confirmed the optimum microstructural characteristics and the chemical reactions that took place during synthesis. The overall results of this study indicate that the co-valorization of different waste streams, which are produced in large quantities and cause environmental problems if not properly managed, is a viable alternative for the production of binders or secondary construction materials with higher added value.


Author(s):  
Evangelos Petrakis ◽  
Vasiliki Karmali ◽  
Georgios Bartzas ◽  
Konstantinos Komnitsas

This study aims to model grinding of a Polish slag and evaluate the particle size distributions of the products obtained after different grinding times. Then, selected products were alkali activated in order to investigate the effect of particle size on the compressive strength of the produced alkali activated materials (AAMs). Other parameters affecting alkali activation, i.e. temperature, curing and ageing time were also examined. Among the different mathematical models used to simulate the particle size distribution, Rosin-Rammler (RR) was found to be the most suitable. When piecewise regression analysis was applied to experimental data it was found that the particle size distribution of the slag products exhibits multi fractal character. In addition, grinding of slag exhibits non-first-order behavior and the reduction rate of each size is time dependent. The grinding rate and consequently the grinding efficiency increases when the particle size increases, but drops sharply near zero after prolonged grinding periods. Regarding alkali activation, it is deduced that among the parameters studied, particle size (and the respective specific surface area) of the raw slag product and curing temperature have the most noticeable impact on the compressive strength of the produced AAMs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 4754
Author(s):  
Assia Aboubakar Mahamat ◽  
Moussa Mahamat Boukar ◽  
Nurudeen Mahmud Ibrahim ◽  
Tido Tiwa Stanislas ◽  
Numfor Linda Bih ◽  
...  

Earth-based materials have shown promise in the development of ecofriendly and sustainable construction materials. However, their unconventional usage in the construction field makes the estimation of their properties difficult and inaccurate. Often, the determination of their properties is conducted based on a conventional materials procedure. Hence, there is inaccuracy in understanding the properties of the unconventional materials. To obtain more accurate properties, a support vector machine (SVM), artificial neural network (ANN) and linear regression (LR) were used to predict the compressive strength of the alkali-activated termite soil. In this study, factors such as activator concentration, Si/Al, initial curing temperature, water absorption, weight and curing regime were used as input parameters due to their significant effect in the compressive strength. The experimental results depict that SVM outperforms ANN and LR in terms of R2 score and root mean square error (RMSE).


2013 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 45-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arbind Pathak ◽  
Vinay Kumar Jha

Recently, the demolition of old houses and the construction of new buildings in Kathmandu valley are in the peak which in turn generates a huge amount of construction waste. There are two major types of construction wastes which are burden for disposal namely cement-sand-waste (CSW) and the coal fly ash (CFA). These construction wastes are rich source of alumino-silicate and thus used as raw material for the synthesis of geopolymer in this study. Geopolymers have been synthesized from CSW and CFA using NaOH-KOH and Na2SiO3 as activators. Some parameters like alkali concentration, amount of Na2SiO3 and curing time have been varied in order to improve the quality of geopolymeric product. The geopolymerization process has been carried out using 3-8M KOH/NaOH solutions, Na2SiO3 to CFA and CSW mass ratio of 0.25-2.00 and curing time variation from 5-28 days. The curing temperature was fixed at 40ºC in all the cases. 6M NaOH and 7M KOH solutions were found appropriate alkali concentrations while the ratio of sodium silicate to CSW and CFA of 0.5 and 1.75 respectively were found suitable mass ratio for the process of geopolymer synthesis. The maximum compressive strength of only 7.3 MPa after 15 days curing time with CSW raw material was achieved while with CFA, the compressive strength was found to be 41.9 MPa with increasing the curing time up to 28 days.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jncs.v30i0.9334Journal of Nepal Chemical Society Vol. 30, 2012 Page:  45-51 Uploaded date: 12/16/2013    


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 11298
Author(s):  
Alessio Occhicone ◽  
Mira Vukčević ◽  
Ivana Bosković ◽  
Claudio Ferone

The aluminum Bayer production process is widespread all over the world. One of the waste products of the Bayer process is a basic aluminosilicate bauxite residue called red mud. The aluminosilicate nature of red mud makes it suitable as a precursor for alkali-activated materials. In this work, red mud was mixed with different percentages of blast furnace slag and then activated by sodium silicate solution at different SiO2/Na2O ratios. Obtained samples were characterized by chemical–physical analyses and compressive strength determination. Very high values of compressive strength, up to 50 MPa, even for high percentage of red mud in the raw mixture (70 wt.% of RM in powder mixture), were obtained. In particular, the higher compressive strength was measured for cubic samples containing 50 wt.% of RM, which showed a value above 70 MPa. The obtained mixtures were characterized by no or scarce environmental impact and could be used in the construction industry as an alternative to cementitious and ceramic materials.


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