Open AccessNew perspectives for the green economy in Sicily
Author(s) -
Franco Parisi,
G. Sabatino,
G. Marciano,
A. Mottese,
G. Nania,
F. Leonetti,
Silvia Sfameni,
M. Di Bella,
Paolo Mazzoleni,
Giuseppina Barone,
A. Tripodo,
D. Drommi,
S. Magazu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/777/1/012006
Subject(s) - cementitious , raw material , portland cement , ground granulated blast furnace slag , lime , fly ash , slag (welding) , waste management , environmental science , environmentally friendly , life cycle assessment , cement , energy consumption , metakaolin , industrialisation , production (economics) , engineering , materials science , metallurgy , market economy , ecology , chemistry , electrical engineering , macroeconomics , organic chemistry , economics , biology
Geopolymers are synthetic materials, which attract increasing interest because they represent a supplementary cementitious material as an alternative to Portland cement. Geopolymers are considered as environmentally friendly materials, due to the low processing temperature and the absence of CO 2 gas emissions. These ecological features, linked to their technical properties, such as high strength, high acid resistance, and/or high-temperature resistance, make them very innovative technological materials. In addition, geopolymers show good performance if realized by the utilization of secondary raw materials (industrial wastes like fly ash or slag), thus improving strong interest in such technology from countries with growing industrialization. Here, in order to reduce global impacts and to stimulate the Sicilian green economy, we provide the evaluation of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) through the employ of local raw materials to produce geopolymers in Sicily. To reach this aim, geopolymers have been produced in collaboration with a Sicilian cement industry, through the use of local raw materials (furnace blast slag from Sicilian steelworks and Calabrian kaolinite) and the construction of a pilot plant. The obtained results show, for different scenarios, a considerable reduction of both CO 2 emissions and energy consumption, but also a general improvement of the environmental indicators.