A short review on alkali-activated binders and geopolymer binders

In the recent years, the trend for reusing waste products or industrial by-products to reduce the amount of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) in concrete constructions has become an important task for industries and research institutions. OPC is the second most used material in the world after water and statistics confirm that the life cycle of OPC contributes to the generation of up to 5% of the annual CO2 emissions worldwide. Mostly responsible for this negative environmental performance of OPC are the high CO2 emissions related to the cement production processes, namely the deacidification of limestone and the burning of the clinker raw materials at high temperatures above 1400°C. The current demand for cementitious binder is higher than ever whereas the incentive of building sustainable and robust constructions is gaining increasingly in importance. There is a need for development of new more durable and environmental friendly binders as an alternative to OPC binders. Therefore, the research on cement alternatives has risen over the last decades and a lot of research work has been carried out to fulfil the requirements of the market. In this work, the concepts of alkali activated materials and geopolymers are presented, and their properties are compared and discussed. A short historical review is given. Furthermore, the reaction mechanisms and hydration products of these binders are characterized and explained by referring to literature. Finally, novel binders based on waste materials are presented before closing with a short outlook on remaining questions and future challenges.