IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i9p7718-d1142067.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Assessment for Geopolymer Concrete Bricks Using Brown Coal Fly Ash

Author

Listed:
  • Jingxuan Zhang

    (School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia)

  • Sarah Fernando

    (School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
    Faculty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya 20400, Sri Lanka)

  • David W. Law

    (School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia)

  • Chamila Gunasekara

    (School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia)

  • Sujeeva Setunge

    (School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia)

  • Malindu Sandanayake

    (College of Sports, Health and Engineering, Victoria University, Footscray, VIC 3011, Australia)

  • Guomin Zhang

    (School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia)

Abstract

Traditionally, the construction industry has predominantly used Portland cement (PC) to manufacture bricks, as it is one of the most-commonly available building materials. However, the employment of waste industrial material for brick production can lead to a significant improvement in terms of sustainability within the construction sector. Geopolymer bricks made from brown coal fly ash, a promising industrial waste by-product, serve as a potential alternative. Conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA), this study thoroughly evaluated the entire manufacturing process’s environmental impact, from source material acquisition and transportation to brick manufacturing, distribution, usage, and end-of-life, for brown coal bricks as compared to PC bricks. The LCA of the brown coal bricks revealed that their primary environmental impacts stemmed from the raw material manufacturing and usage, while exhibiting substantial reductions in ozone depletion, water depletion, and metal depletion. These findings highlighted the environmental advantages of the brown coal bricks and their potential to revolutionize sustainable construction practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Jingxuan Zhang & Sarah Fernando & David W. Law & Chamila Gunasekara & Sujeeva Setunge & Malindu Sandanayake & Guomin Zhang, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment for Geopolymer Concrete Bricks Using Brown Coal Fly Ash," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-20, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:9:p:7718-:d:1142067
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/9/7718/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/9/7718/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabio De Felice & Antonella Petrillo & Orrin Cooper, 2013. "An integrated conceptual model to promote green policies," International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(4), pages 333-355.
    2. José Adolfo Lozano-Miralles & Manuel Jesús Hermoso-Orzáez & Alfonso Gago-Calderón & Paulo Brito, 2019. "LCA Case Study to LED Outdoor Luminaries as a Circular Economy Solution to Local Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Samar Amari & Mariam Darestani & Graeme J. Millar & Bijan Samali & Ekaterina Strounina, 2024. "Engineering and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Sustainable Zeolite-Based Geopolymer Incorporating Blast Furnace Slag," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Tseng-Hsian Lin & Hung-Jung Siao & Sue-Huai Gau & Jen-Hwa Kuo & Ming-Guo Li & Chang-Jung Sun, 2023. "Life-Cycle Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Fly Ash Recycling as a Feedstock for Brick Manufacturing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-20, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muhammad Rahies Khan & Muhammad Mutasim Billah Tufail & Mubashir Ali Khan & Muhammad Shake, 2022. "Reinforcing Environmental Sustainability through Institutional Pressures, Green Supply Chain, and Customer Intention among Pakistani ManufacturingFirms A-Pilot Test," iRASD Journal of Management, International Research Alliance for Sustainable Development (iRASD), vol. 4(2), pages 191-202, june.
    2. Sato, Yuji & Tan, Kim Hua & Tse, Ying Kei, 2017. "Investment performance analysis of industrial products: Case of an effluent processing facility at a chemical company," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 52-58.
    3. Wątróbski, Jarosław & Jankowski, Jarosław & Ziemba, Paweł & Karczmarczyk, Artur & Zioło, Magdalena, 2019. "Generalised framework for multi-criteria method selection," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 107-124.
    4. Ferry Syarifuddin, 2022. "Towards Green Economy Transformation Through Islamic Green Financing: Managing Risk And Fostering Sustainable Growth For The Real And Financial Sectors," Working Papers WP/05/2022, Bank Indonesia.
    5. Agustín Castillo-Martínez & Antonio Peña-García, 2021. "Influence of Groves on Daylight Conditions and Visual Performance of Users of Urban Civil Infrastructures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-9, November.
    6. Gómez-Navarro, Tomás & Ribó-Pérez, David, 2018. "Assessing the obstacles to the participation of renewable energy sources in the electricity market of Colombia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 131-141.
    7. Cannemi, Marco & García-Melón, Mónica & Aragonés-Beltrán, Pablo & Gómez-Navarro, Tomás, 2014. "Modeling decision making as a support tool for policy making on renewable energy development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 127-137.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:9:p:7718-:d:1142067. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.