Development of a new class of alkali activated binders for producing low-carbon concrete

水泥和混凝土行业每年约占全球人为温室气体（GHG）排放量的8%。这主要是由于依赖于波特兰水泥的消耗来形成粘合剂。减少如此大的排放量的一个实际解决方案是使用替代粘合剂。碱活化粘合剂（AAB）是近来受到大量关注的替代粘合剂之一。它们已在英国和澳大利亚等几个国家的各种建筑项目中得到商业应用。在它们的经典形式中，AAB通过将碱性材料如氢氧化钠添加到铝硅酸盐粉末如偏高岭土中形成。工业副产品，如粉煤灰和矿渣也已成功地在商业规模上用作生产AAB的前体，具有较低的成本和碳足迹。尽管AAB在减少与混凝土工业相关的温室气体排放方面具有很大的潜力，但在加拿大建筑应用中，对这种粘合剂的研究和开发活动有限。此外，典型的前体，如粉煤灰和矿渣，现在供应有限，特别是在加拿大西部。在这里，我们建议使用天然火山灰，这是丰富的沸石和玄武岩，主要是在不列颠哥伦比亚省（BC），作为开发一个新的AAB类的前体。此外，我们将通过添加相对少量的我们内部制备的天然衍生纳米颗粒来定制这些新粘合剂的特性。透过进行以表现为本的生命周期比较评估，我们亦会量化新的活页夹对温室气体减排的影响。我们与位于不列颠哥伦比亚省的沸石矿公司ZMM® Canada Minerals Corporation合作。这种伙伴关系，除了与来自学术界和创新卡尔加里，大学的技术转让办公室的成员团队的合作，将促进我们提出的研究计划的影响，并支持翻译活动和这项新技术的商业化。该研究计划还将培养一批不同的HQP在材料工程和纳米技术在混凝土行业的应用。

The cement and concrete industry accounts for ~ 8% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions every year. That is mainly due to the reliance on the consumption of Portland cement to form the binder. A practical solution to cut such large emissions is to use alternative binders. Alkali activated binders (AABs) are among alternative binders that have received a lot of attention recently. They have been commercially used in various construction projects in several countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia. In their classic form, AABs are formed by adding an alkaline material such as sodium hydroxide to an aluminosilicate powder such as metakaolin. Industrial by-products such as fly ash and slag have also been successfully used at a commercial scale as precursors for the production of the AABs with lower cost and carbon footprint. Although AABs have great potentials to reduce the GHG emissions associated with the concrete industry, there have been limited research and development activities on such binders for Canadian construction applications. Moreover, typical precursors, such as fly ash and slag, are now in limited supply, particularly in Western Canada. Here, we propose to use a natural pozzolan, which is rich in zeolites and basalts and is largely available in British Columbia (BC), as the precursor for developing a new class of AABs. Moreover, we will tailor the properties of these new binders by adding to them relatively small amounts of our in-house prepared naturally-derived nanoparticles. By conducting performance-based comparative life cycle assessments, we will also quantify the effects of the new binders on the GHG emission reduction. We have partnered with ZMM® Canada Minerals Corporation, a BC-based zeolite mining company. This partnership, in addition to the collaboration with a team of members from academia and Innovate Calgary, the university's technology transfer office, will promote the impact of our proposed research program and support the translation activities and commercialization of this new technology. This research program will also train a diverse group of HQP in applications of materials engineering and nanotechnology for the concrete industry.