Worldwide cement production is around 4.2 billion tons, and the fabrication of one ton of ordinary Portland cement emits around 900 kg of CO₂. Blast furnace slag (BFS) is a byproduct used to produce alkali-activated materials (AAM). BFS production was estimated at about 350 million tons in 2018, and the BFS reuse rate in construction materials of developing countries is low. AAM can reduce CO₂ emissions in relation to Portland cement materials: Its use in construction would be a golden opportunity for developing countries in forthcoming decades. The present research aims to formulate AAM destined for future applications in developing countries. Two activators were used: NaOH, Na₂CO₃, and a mixture of both. The results showed that compressive strengths within the 42–56 MPa range after 28 curing days were obtained for the Na₂CO₃-activated mortars. The characterization analysis confirmed the presence of hydrotalcite, carbonated phases, CSH and CASH. The economic study showed that Na₂CO₃ was the cheapest activator in terms of the relative cost per ton and MPa of manufactured mortars. Finally, the environmental benefits of mortars based on this reagent were evidenced, and, in terms of kgCO₂ emissions per ton and MPa, the mortars with Na₂CO₃ yielded 50% lower values than with NaOH.

In this research the equivalent age concept was used, in order to simulate strength development of heat treated sand concrete compared with ordinary concrete at different temperature, 35, 55, and 70°C, and validate the simulation results with our experimental results. Sand concrete is a concrete with a lower or without coarse aggregate dosage; it is used to realize thin element as small precast prestressed beams, in injected concrete or in regions where sand is in extra quantity and the coarse aggregate in penury. This concrete is composed by principally sand, filler, superplasticizer, water, and cement. The results show that the simulation of ordinary concrete was acceptable with an error lower than 20%. But the error was considerable for the sand concrete. The error was due to large superplasticizer dosage, which modified the hardening of sand concrete; the most influent parameter in Arrhenius law is apparent energy activation, to search for the value of the activation energy which gives the best simulation; a superposition is used of two curves of different temperature and with superplasticizer dosage 4% and several values of activation energy, 15, 20, 25, and 30 × 10kcal. The simulation becomes ameliorated with the adequate value of activation energy. In this research the equivalent age concept was used, in order to simulate strength development of heat treated sand concrete compared with ordinary concrete at different temperature, 35, 55, and 70°C, and validate the simulation results with our experimental results. Sand concrete is a concrete with a lower or without coarse aggregate dosage; it is used to realize thin element as small precast prestressed beams, in injected concrete or in regions where sand is in extra quantity and the coarse aggregate in penury. This concrete is composed by principally sand, filler, superplasticizer, water, and cement. The results show that the simulation of ordinary concrete was acceptable with an error lower than 20%. But the error was considerable for the sand concrete. The error was due to large superplasticizer dosage, which modified the hardening of sand concrete; the most influent parameter in Arrhenius law is apparent energy activation, to search for the value of the activation energy which gives the best simulation; a superposition is used of two curves of different temperature and with superplasticizer dosage 4% and several values of activation energy, 15, 20, 25, and 30 × 10kcal. The simulation becomes ameliorated with the adequate value of activation energy.

Traditional road bases materials such as natural gravel and crushed stone are environmentally damaging, and there is a growing need for sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. One such alternative is using geopolymer cement and tuff as aggregate materials. Geopolymer cement is an innovative and environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional Portland cement, and using locally-sourced tuff as an aggregate material can further reduce the environmental impact of road construction. This article discusses the importance of sustainable road construction practices, particularly in the use of eco-friendly materials for road base layers. It focuses on the treatment of tuff with alkali-activated metakaolin as the geopolymer precursor activated with a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate. The effectiveness of treating tuff with metakaolin geopolymer cement is evaluated using several parameters, including dry density, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), shear strength, and microstructure analysis. These evaluations are performed with different NaOH dosages (8, 10, and 12 moles) to determine the optimal molarity for enhancing the material's performance.

The construction of embankments requires available and suitable material that sounds to the imposed load. The selection of materials that provide slope stability and maintain pavements is made through specific test control. This research aims to analyze the mechanical behavior of a mixture of 75% calcareous tuff and 25% coal mine tailings (CMTs) used on embankment foundations. the impact of particle size characteristics and the compaction on the mechanical behavior of the mixture are studied. The direct shear test was conducted on different material states, granular and uncompressed states, compaction at the Maximum Practical Optimum (MPO), and MPO compaction post a 30-day curing period at 40 degrees Celsius. the normal stress applied ranging from 50 to 500 KPa, with a constant shear rate displacement of 0.5 mm/min. The results show a substantial influence of compaction on both friction angle (φ) and cohesion (C) values. a remarkable increase in cohesion values after the curing period, attributed to the cementitious compound formation from the interaction between calcareous tuff and coal mine tailings. This investigation emphasizes coal mine tailings potential as a sustainable and cost-effective embankment material for road construction, especially in arid regions. The material exhibits significant shear strength, with a marked increase in cohesion values post-curing state. These results are conducted to consider coal mine tailings as an appealing alternative to traditional materials of road engineering.

The aggregates factory consumes a big quantity of energy; by consequence, it costs money, in the other hand it produces a lot of waste material or SCM (sustainable concrete material). The main aspects which guide this study is the current tendency to make mortar based on a very abundant material which are crushed limestone aggregates and naturals dunes sand. The results obtained in this study summarize up the importance of SCMs aggregates on behavior of the mortar, this different kind of SCM aggregate offered different behavior at the fresh state of the batch and by consequence its result with different mechanical behavior at the hardened state of mortar. This study focus also on the behavior of the new kind of chemical admixture, which is acrylic superplasticizer. The principal aim of adding rolled or crushed SCM is makes a mortar, which can resist to exhaustive environment (at curing temperature).