Environmental impact assessment of alkali-activated materials: Examining impacts of variability in constituent production processes and transportation

This study compares the environmental impacts of blast furnace slag-, fly ash-, and metakaolin-based alkali-activated concretes with Portland cement (PC) using life cycle assessment methodology. The variability in production processes mix constituents across Europe uncertainty associated transportation distances are evaluated for both types concrete. recent data on soluble sodium silicates was obtained from European manufacturers. Results show that materials have up to 57 % lower CO2 eq. emissions than PC concretes, while activators contribute between 13 33 total GWP AA concrete mixes, depending design. paper concludes taking into account technologies precursors activators, as well PC, still concretes.