Geopolymer-based hybrid foams: Lightweight materials from a sustainable production process

The construction industry causes significant environmental impacts in terms of global warming and embodied energy consumption. Concrete is one of the most widely used product in the planet. The development of new materials as alternative to cement could lay the foundations for introducing on the market innovative systems with higher performances and lower environmental impacts. The present research investigates, through a life cycle approach, the environmental impacts of the production process of aerated systems based on innovative Geopolymer-based Hybrid Foams (GHF), choosing as system boundary the method “cradle to gate”. The environmental impacts of GHF derived from fly ash (GHF-FA) were compared to GHF based on metakaolin (GHF-MK) and commercial Aerated Autoclaved Concrete (AAC) system. The main result shows that GHF-FA has the lowest environmental impact (in terms of CO2 production), thus it appears as an environmentally friendly material.