Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering - Theses

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Geopolymerisation of aluminosilicate minerals

Xu, Hua ( 2002-04)

Geopolymerisation can transfer A1 and Si containing wastes into geopolymers with a high mechanical strength and high fire, acid and bacteria resistances. This thesis investigates the geopolymerisation of natural aluminosilicate minerals which cover a wide range of structures, minerals groups, hardness, densities and A12O3 and SiO2 contents. The study of fifteen selected A1-Si minerals shows that the framework structured A1-Si minerals with a high CaO content and a lower K2O content, have a higher potential to undergo geopolymerisation in KOH solution with resulting geopolymers possessing a higher compressive strength. The NaOH solution is observed to leach more A1 and Si complexes from the solid reactants than KOH solution, while KOH solution produces geopolymers with a higher mechanical strength than NaOH solution does. (For complete abstract open document)