Hany M. Abd El‐Lateef, Alaa Mohsen, M. Ramadan, Fatma M. HELMY, Mai M. Khalaf, Nagih M. Shaalan, Saad Shaaban, Mostafa A. Sayed
This study highlights an innovative approach to valorize rock wool and glass wool wastes (RWW and GWW) via incorporating them into a slag-based geopolymer to prepare low-carbon construction materials and adsorbent agents for indigo-carmine dye. The slag was partially replaced with 50 wt% RWW (Geo-R) or GWW (Geo-G), then cured under two curing regimes: normal-curing/28-days and hydrothermal-curing/150°C/12hrs. The effects of curing regime and precursor type on mechanical and adsorption properties were investigated. The results showed that hydrothermal curing significantly enhances geopolymer properties, yielding higher compressive-strength and improved adsorption efficiency compared with normal curing. The highest strength (47 MPa) and the highest removal efficiency (93%) were achieved by hydrothermal-cured Geo-R and Geo-G, respectively. These data were approved by XRD, FTIR, BET/BJH and SEM/EDX analyses. The Ca/Mg/Al-rich Geo-R promoted the formation of load-bearing capacity phases from C-(A)-S-H, hydrotalcite and gismondine-Ca. The Na/Si-rich Geo-G developed highly-adsorbent LTA, sodalite and ZSM-5 mesoporous structure zeolite.