The Concrete Sustainability Hub @ MIT presents
DATE: Monday, November 25, 2013 TIME: 4-5pm
PLACE: Room 13-2137 (Von Hippel Room)
Kunal Kupwade-Patil, PhD Research Scientist – Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT “New sustainable solutions for Infrastructure Rehabilitation using Geopolymer Concrete”
Abstract:“Geopolymer (Inorganic polymer concrete) is an emerging class of cementitious material and could be the next generation concrete for civil infrastructure applications. The Geopolymer Concrete (GPC) does not use Portland cement as a binder. The production of Portland cement contributes 7 % of total global man-made CO2 emission to the atmosphere. Unlike Portland cement, which requires calcite (CaCO3) as a main raw material for the clinkerization, GPC could relish on fly ash, which is a byproduct of coal combustion. Global production of fly ash exceeds 800 million tons, and is expected to increase due to the excessive usage of electrical power. US alone produces 70 million ton of coal fly ash a year as a byproduct of energy production and other industrial activities. With the ever increasing demand for Portland cement, the current consumption level is estimated at 2.5 billion tons per year. When geopolymers are blended together with aggregates, the resulting mixture can be handled and cast in the same manner as Portland cement based concrete. When compared to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), geopolymer concrete is virtually acid and high temperature resistant. This innovative technology provides a new platform for sustainable growth of our urban society in the coming decades and can help in building durable structures.”
Bio
Dr. Kunal Kupwade-Patil is a research scientist in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, prior to this appointment he was a Research Assistant Professor at Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA. His research focuses on durability evaluation of fly ash based geopolymer concrete (GPC) and development of nano-engineered cementitious materials. His Ph.D. thesis work focused on the application of nanotechnology and applied electrokinetics for corrosion mitigation in reinforced concrete structures. He has been involved in collaborative research projects with the Corrosion Technology Laboratory at Kennedy Space Research Center, NASA, Entergy, Cleco, Heidelberg Cements, Lehigh Hanson, Structural Preservation Systems, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).