A path towards sustainable reconstruction: Geopolymerizing Beirut’s blast waste glass

¹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Balamand, Koura, Lebanon.
² Unité Mixte de Recherche Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de Recherche sur les Céramiques, Univ. Of Limoges, 7315, 12 Rue Atlantis, 87068 Limoges, Cedex, France

^* Corresponding author: marianne.saba@balamand.edu.lb; joseph.absi@unilim.fr

Abstract

The devasting explosion that hit Beirut in 2020 has resulted in massive debris and waste materials all over the capital and its surroundings. To address this issue, the local population, universities, industrials, and researchers have tried since the explosion to sort all debris and waste exerted from the blast, first to assess the quantities and second to seek a sustainable solution. Among the most common types of waste that was collected was glass. As such, and since glass collection was possible, the path toward a suitable reconstruction approach was considered. This study aims to determine the impact of replacing raw materials with glass waste from the explosion in the geopolymer concrete mortars. Geopolymeric materials are defined as eco-friendly, suitable materials rich in aluminum and silicate. As for glass and waste glass, it is commonly known that the general mineral composition is silicate. As such, the general objective of this work is to assess the impact of increasing the mass proportions of recycled glass from 0 to 20% mass substitutions in the mix designs of the proposed geopolymer mortars. The mechanical properties of the different batches of geopolymer concrete produced will be assessed.