A novel study on the influence of cork waste residue on metakaolin-zeolite based geopolymers

The effect of industrial waste from the cork industry on the strength and adsorption properties of zeolite-metakaolin based geopolymers has been studied. Cork residue 20% by weight was added to geopolymers that contained 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% replacement of metakaolin by zeolite in the structure. The SiO2/Al2O3 and Na2O/Al2O3 molar ratios were kept at 1 to reduce the environmental impact of sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide to the minimum. The compressive strength evolution after 1, 14 and 28 days in water and the heavy metals (Cd2+, Cr3+, Cu2+, Pb2+, and Zn2+) adsorption of the geopolymers were determined. It was found that addition of zeolite and cork residue in minor amounts concurrently aided in increasing the compressive strength of geopolymers. The adsorption properties, however, were dominated by the presence of cork residue and metakaolin which resulted in increasing adsorption of all heavy metal cations with increasing metakaolin in the structure. The adsorption was well fitted by the Langmuir model with R2 > 0.98 and the trend of adsorption was found to be Pb2+ > Cd2+ > Cu2+, Zn2+ > Cr3+. The significant improvement in compressive strength, as well as adsorption capacity observed with the addition of cork waste residue, connotes that it can be efficient as filler in geopolymers.