| Summary: | Fly ash and oil contaminated sand are considered as the two waste materials that may affect environment. This
paper investigated the suitability of producing geopolymer cement mortar using oil contaminated sand. A
comparison between physical and mechanical properties of mortar produced using geopolymer and Ordinary
Portland Cement (OPC), in terms of porosity, hydration and compressive strength, was conducted. The results
showed that heat curing can increase the compressive strength of geopolymer mortar up to 54% compared to
ambient curing situation. The geopolymer mortar with 1% of light crude oil contamination yielded a 20% higher
compressive strength than OPC mortar containing sand with a saturated surface dry condition. Furthermore, the
formation of efflorescence decreased as the level of oil contamination decreased. Moreover, the heat curing
method increased the kinetic energy and degree of reaction for geopolymer cement mortar, which cause an
increment of the density of the pore system and improving the mechanical properties of the resulting composites.
From the results of this study, it was demonstrated that geopolymer mortar has the potential of utilizing oil
contaminated sand, and reducing its environmental impacts
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