GEOPOLYMERS – TECHNOLOGY FOR CONVERTING THE INDUSTRIAL WASTE INTO FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS

The research subject on this project are GEOPOLYMERS, synthesized alkali-alumosilicate materials, built from the three-dimensional network of SiO4 and AlO4 tetrahedra, thus often called INORGANIC POLYMERS. GEOPOLYMERS are formed during the chemical process in which the glassy (amorphous) phase of the initial material is converted into a binding material. This process is called GEOPOLYMERIZATION. Exceptional attractiveness and strategic potential of GEOPOLYMERS is in the fact that industrial waste, such as fly ash (FA) from thermal power plants, can be utilized as an initial material for their synthesis. There is economically and ecologically justified need for the discovering of new possibilities of FA utilization. Development of technology for converting FA into functional materials based on GEOPOLYMERS is quite interesting possibility. Within this project the possibility of utilization of FA from power plants in Serbia for the GEOPOLYMER synthesis by the process of alkali-activation will be investigated. The outcomes expected on this project are optimization of synthesis conditions of GEOPOLYMERS based on FA, the impact of mechanical activation of FA and high temperature on GEOPOLYMER characteristics, as well as the stabilization - solidification of toxic waste in GEOPOLYMER structure. Final phase of the research is the defining of possible GEOPOLYMER applications as the functional materials, in building materials industry, metallurgy and environmental protection.