Use of Waste Glass as A Replacement for Raw Materials in Mortars with a Lower Environmental Impact

Glass waste used in mortars or concretes behaves similar to cement, with resulting environmental benefits. In this light, the behavior of glass powder of various particle sizes has been analyzed as a cement replacement in mortars, in an attempt to minimize the loss of strength and durability, and maximize the amount of materials replaced. The dry density, water accessible porosity, water absorption by immersion, capillary absorption coefficient, ultrasonic pulse velocity and both compressive and flexural strengths were studied in the mortars. Furthermore, a statistical analysis of the obtained results and a greenhouse gases assessment were also performed. In view of the results obtained, glass powder of 38 microns allows up to 30% of the cement to be replaced, due to the filler effect combined with its pozzolanic activity. Moreover, it has been observed that glass powder size is one of the factors with the greatest influence among the properties of porosity, absorption and capillarity. On the other hand, in the mechanical properties, this factor does not contribute significantly more than the amount of glass powder. Finally, the greenhouse gasses analysis shows that the incorporation of glass powder reduces the CO2 emissions associated with mortar up to 29.47%.