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Life Cycle Assessment of Red Mud-Based Geopolymer Production at Industrial Scale

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Advances in Production Management Systems. Production Management Systems for Responsible Manufacturing, Service, and Logistics Futures (APMS 2023)

Part of the book series: IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology ((IFIPAICT,volume 692))

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Abstract

Nowadays the production of traditional building materials continues to be highly energy consuming and polluting. Therefore, the development of sustainable materials that allow the reuse of industrial waste could lead to a faster ecological transition of the construction industry. Among lab-scale developed materials, geopolymers are widely recognized as a future and sustainable alternative to traditional Portland cement, allowing to reuse various wastes from different industrial sectors.

This paper aims to perform an environmental analysis of geopolymers large-scale production based on the use of red mud, a waste product from the aluminum supply chain. Previous studies on red mud-based geopolymers have focused mainly on optimizing the laboratory formulations, without analyzing their real environmental advantage over traditional building materials. Therefore, this study uses the life cycle assessment approach to verify the environmental benefit of the large-scale production for the circular economy. Starting from the literature analysis, a four-steps scale-up procedure was applied to identify a potential industrial production.

Results showed a clear reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the production of conventional Portland cement and highlighted the need to reduce the use of alkaline activators in geopolymers production.

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Acknowledgements

This study was carried out within the MICS (Made in Italy – Circular and Sustainable) Extended Partnership and received funding from the European Union Next-GenerationEU (PIANO NAZIONALE DI RIPRESA E RESILIENZA (PNRR) – MISSIONE 4 COMPONENTE 2, INVESTIMENTO 1.3 – D.D. 1551.11-10-2022, PE00000004). This manuscript reflects only the authors’ views and opinions, neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be considered responsible for them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Building 8, 90128, Palermo, Italy

    Luca Adelfio, Rosanna Leone & Giada La Scalia

  2. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7034, Trondheim, Norway

    Luca Adelfio & Fabio Sgarbossa

Authors
  1. Luca Adelfio
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  2. Fabio Sgarbossa
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  3. Rosanna Leone
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  4. Giada La Scalia
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luca Adelfio .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Erlend Alfnes

  2. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Anita Romsdal

  3. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Jan Ola Strandhagen

  4. ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Friedrichshafen, Germany

    Gregor von Cieminski

  5. Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City, Mexico

    David Romero

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Adelfio, L., Sgarbossa, F., Leone, R., La Scalia, G. (2023). Life Cycle Assessment of Red Mud-Based Geopolymer Production at Industrial Scale. In: Alfnes, E., Romsdal, A., Strandhagen, J.O., von Cieminski, G., Romero, D. (eds) Advances in Production Management Systems. Production Management Systems for Responsible Manufacturing, Service, and Logistics Futures. APMS 2023. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 692. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43688-8_41

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43688-8_41

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