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Valorization of marine sediments in geopolymer mortars: physico-mechanical, microstructural and environmental investigations at laboratory scale

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Abstract

The high consumption of natural sand and the accumulation of mineral wastes in landfills such as dredged sediments make it necessary to valorize the wastes as secondary materials in the field of construction. This work dealt with the valorization of sediments from Sidi Mansour (SM) and Sidi Youssef (SY) Tunisian harbors in geopolymer matrices. The experimental design of mixtures (sand with sediment) at 10 to 25% (w/w) of substitutions was based on the optimum packing density. The mortars were assessed for their mechanical, physicochemical, and environmental properties. The results of compressive strength are always higher than the reference mortar with an optimum at 15% of SM and 20% of SY. In addition, the mercury intrusion porosity (MIP) and porosity accessible to water (PAW) is correlated to the compressive strength values. In addition, the environmental quality of mortars was validated. The SEM analysis of mortars confirms the enhancement of adhesion of the matrix due to structurally stable of Sodium Aluminosilicate Hydrate (N–A–S–H) gel. This study revealed that the substitution of sand by sediments can be considered as a suitable option for improving physico-chemical and mechanical properties of the mortars. Also, the geopolymer binder can be effective to stabilize pollutants in the sediments.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial help of the University of Sfax in collaboration with the IMT Lille Douai, France who provided them with financial support. They would like to thank the members of the Civil and Environmental Engineering laboratory at IMT as well for their support and cooperation. They finally appreciate the support and encouragement provided by Mr. Jamel Moalla, the general manager of the Tunisian Underwater Works Company- SOTUTRASM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Génie de l’Environnement et Ecotechnologie, GEET-ENIS, Université de Sfax, Route de Soukra km 4, Po. Box 1173, 3038, Sfax, Tunisia

    Afef Zouch & Mohamed Ksibi

  2. Centre for Materials and Processes, IMT Lille Douai, Institut Mines-Télécom, Univ. Lille, 59000, Lille, France

    Yannick Mamindy-Pajany, Abdelhadi Bouchikhi & Nor-Edine Abriak

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  1. Afef Zouch
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  2. Yannick Mamindy-Pajany
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  3. Abdelhadi Bouchikhi
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Correspondence to Afef Zouch.

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Zouch, A., Mamindy-Pajany, Y., Bouchikhi, A. et al. Valorization of marine sediments in geopolymer mortars: physico-mechanical, microstructural and environmental investigations at laboratory scale. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 24, 1109–1123 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-022-01382-0

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