Strength, Carbon Footprint and Cost Considerations of Mortar Blends with High Volume Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag

Chiu Chuen Onn, Kim Hung Mo, Mohammed K. H. Radwan, Wen Hong Liew, Chee Guan Ng and Sumiani Yusoff
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Chiu Chuen Onn: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Kim Hung Mo: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mohammed K. H. Radwan: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Wen Hong Liew: Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Chee Guan Ng: Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya, IGS Building, No. C308, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Sumiani Yusoff: Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya, IGS Building, No. C308, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 24, 1-21

Abstract: Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) is a by-product obtained from the iron making process and has suitable properties to be utilized as high volume cement replacement to produce sustainable concrete. This study focuses on investigating the influence of GGBFS replacement level (0%–70%) and water/binder ratio (0.45 and 0.65) on the performance of cement mortar blends. In order to characterize the engineering performance, the compressive strength of the mortar blends was evaluated. Whereas to ascertain the carbon footprint, environmental life cycle assessment was conducted. Besides the compressive strength and carbon footprint, the materials cost for each mortar blends was computed. Based on the compressive strength/carbon footprint ratio analysis, it was found that increased replacement level of GGBFS gave better performance while the cost efficiency analysis shows that suggested GGBFS replacement level of up to 50%. Overall, in considering the strength performance, carbon footprint and materials cost, the recommended GGBFS replacement level for cement blends is 50%. In addition, when the binder content is kept constant, mortar blends with lower water/binder ratio is preferable when considering the same parameters.

Keywords: ground granulated blast furnace slag; sustainability; life cycle assessment; cement replacement; Malaysia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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