Life cycle assessment of soil stabilization using gypsum and recycled glass from end-of-life photovoltaic panels

Due to the various negative environmental effects of soil stabilization techniques, such methods should be assessed for their suitability and desirability via life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques. This study explored the use of recycled glass powder from the end-of-life (EoL) panels combined with sintered gypsum as mixtures for the stabilization of clay soil and analyzed the possible impacts. Unconfined compressive strength (UCS), durability, and pulse velocity tests have been conducted in this study. Durability tests indicated that increased amounts of glass powder contributed to an increase in mass loss and that gypsum mitigated this loss. LCA results show that increasing density corresponds to reduced normalized impacts; the most favorable results were obtained for 12% glass powder and 5% gypsum. In general, application of recycled glass powder plus sintered gypsum is found to confer an environmental benefit over conventional Portland cement stabilization.