A review on effect of red mud on properties of alkali activated materials (AAMs) and geopolymers (GPs)

Abstract

Many greenhouse gases are released while producing typical Portland cement (OPC), which has contributed to harmful environmental effects including environmental destruction and global warming. These characteristics have vitalized the utilisation of diverse industrial waste items to create geopolymer materials and alkali-activated binders (AAB), which reduce the need for OPC in building materials and construction. One of the dangerous radioactive waste products produced as a by-product in aluminium manufacture by Bayer's technique is Red Mud (RM). To create geopolymer and AAB samples, RM uses a variety of ingredients, including fly ash (FA), blast furnace slag (GGBS), silica fume (SF), metakaolin (MK), waste mudstone, and rice husk ash (RHA). The residual of geopolymers and oxidizable heavy metal ions, which were existent in the binder materials as weak acid soluble and reducible portions, improved stability and eliminated a serious environmental concern. The current work, which is based on a thorough review, emphasises the feasibility of using RM as one of the precursors in AAB. The properties of RM and its effect on various forms of AAMs and geopolymers has also been reviewed. A summary of current developments in the investigation of the microstructure of the AAM as well as the hardened, fresh, and durability characteristics of RM used for alkali activation has also been provided. The results show that AAM integrating RM has a large window of opportunity for use as a building material. The necessity for a substitute method of appropriately disposing of RM was met by using it for geopolymerization, which lessened the negative environmental impact that it had. Also, since RM has a lot of NaOH, using it helped cut down on the high price of the alkali activator solution.