Assessment of environmental, economic and technical performance of geopolymer concrete: a case study

Although several studies report the CO2 reduction obtained from alkali-activated materials/geopolymers, only a few investigate their engineering, environmental and economic aspects. The present paper provides an evaluation approach to address these three major aspects of geopolymer concrete by choosing three scenarios for industrial precast applications. Using the analytical hierarchy process, a single sustainability score was determined for three scenarios using technical, environmental and economic parameters. Such sustainability sensitivity analysis led to decision-making for various scenarios. This case study provides an example of reaching these parameters for choosing suitable concrete mixtures for a given application or requirements. The technical and environmental results showed that a wide range of late and early age compressive strength could be achieved by changing the mix composition and proportions. However, all the geopolymer concrete samples exhibited a lower environmental footprint than OPC concrete.