Utilization of accelerated weathering of limestone captured carbon dioxide (CO2) with cement kiln dust to produce building material

Abstract

The accelerated weathering of limestone (AWL) process is an inexpensive and eco-friendly carbon dioxide (CO2) capture process with comparable performance to amine-based systems. However, the generated calcium bicarbonate (Ca(HCO3)2) solution lacks an effective utilization alternative. Aside from that, the current solid waste utilization alternatives (i.e., carbon mineralization and partial replacement of conventional binders) lack the capability to effectively curb the tremendous production rate of solid waste (i.e., cement kiln dust (CKD)). To address both gaps, this study developed a novel Ca(HCO3)2 solution utilization alternative with CKD as the sole binder to produce a building material termed CKD-bicarbonate lime mortar (BLM). This work aims to identify the optimal mix ratio for CKD-BLM to achieve maximum compressive strength via a series of studies; (i) liquid medium, (ii) Ca(HCO3)2 solution volume, and (iii) sand:CKD mix ratio. From the findings, it was found that CKD-BLM at the optimal CKD:sand:Ca(HCO3)2 mix ratio of 1:0.45:0.29 exhibits the highest compressive strength of 2.09 MPa, surpassing the compressive strength standard of 1.70 MPa set by the ASTM C141 while having acceptable workability of 118 % which is within the standard workability range of 105–155 % set by ASTM C270. However, the CKD-BLM sample exhibits high leaching of Ca, Si, Na and Cl which does not meet the environmental regulation. This was resolved by applying a waterproof coating that effectively curbed the leaching by 28.84–99 %. Overall, this study successfully developed a building material with industrial wastes (i.e., Ca(HCO3)2 solution and CKD) that surpasses the performance of conventional lime mortar while utilizing up to 0.22 kg CO2.kg CKD-BLM_1:0.45:0.29−1.