Grant: Engage Grants Program

Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is produced on a massive scale (billions of tonnes per annum) for use in concrete and mortar products. Production of OPC releases large amounts of carbon dioxide, mainly from the burning of limestone to produce a key ingredient, quicklime. It has been estimated that 1 tonne of CO2 is produced per tonne of OPC, contributing up to 5% of current annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Currently under development are geopolymers (GPs), which are synthetic cements that can be used just like OPC, but often have superior strength and durability, and release up to 80-90% less CO2 during production. Additionally, GPs can be made using materials that are waste products of other industrial processes. For instance, fly ash (combustion residues from, e.g., coal burning) is a suitable raw material for GP synthesis. These desirable attributes have resulted in GP use on a small scale for specialized applications, but they are not yet ready for large scale deployment. Further development of testing protocols is required, and also technical issues related to their production remain to be resolved. The proposed research is a collaboration between the applicant and Antex Western, a Winnipeg-based construction manufacturer currently researching GP preparation and properties. This project aims to discover new chemical technology to address a critical issue with the alkaline activator solution that is mixed with coal fly ash in order to make the GPs. These solutions have a tendency to solidify, sometimes after only a few days of storage, rendering them unusable. The researchers will investigate new formulations of this activator solution in order to achieve stability over long-term storage while maintaining the structural properties of the resultant GPs. Achieving this goal will greatly increase the commercial viability of the GP products.