Production of Sustainable Building Materials Incorporating Electric Arc Furnace Dust and Meta-Kaolin

Electric-arc furnace dust (EAFD) is an industrial waste, which generated through the volatilization of metals during reduced iron and melting of scrap during electric arc furnaces process. Utilization of EAFD consisting of hazardous metals such as Pb, Cd, Cr or Zn using the technology of geopolymerization that is illustrated in this paper. Mixing between EAFD waste and meta-kaolin (MK) have been processed to study the potential of geopolymers as waste stopping agents. Alkali activators, which are used in this paper are sodium hydroxide (NH), sodium silicate (NS). The assessment of optimum ratio specimen of added EAFD are done by replacement of various ratio of EAFD “0, 20 , 40, 60 & 80” % with MK. Results of compressive strength of geopolymer samples increases with EAFD up to 60% and decreases with additional increasing of dust at all curing times: 7, 14, 28 & 90 days, respectively. FTIR, SEM, XRD were used to evaluate the optimization of EAFD in geopolymer formation.