Costa, CarlaFerreira, CátiaRibeiro, Maria FilipaFernandes, Auguste2020-05-282020-05-282014-09COSTA, Carla; [et al] – Alkali-activated binders produced from petrochemical fluid catalytic cracking catalyst waste. IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology. ISSN 2321-7308. Vol. 3, Special Issue N.º 13 (2014), pp. 114-1222321-73082319-1163http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/11743This paper describes research on the viability of producing alkali activated binders using the aluminosilicate catalyst waste-generated by the fluid catalytic cracking (wFCC) unit in the Portuguese oil refinery company-as precursor. For this purpose, alkali-activated wFCC catalyst based mortars and cement pastes were produced. Tests were carried out to evaluate the effect of initial solids composition (wFCC catalyst/Ca(OH) 2 ratio) on mortars workability or mechanical strength. The mineralogy and microstructure of the hardened alkali activated wFCC catalyst pastes were studied by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results obtained at macroscale showed that the content of Ca(OH) 2 incorporated in the binder has a significant effect on compressive strength of hardened mortars. At microscale, FTIR and XRD results confirmed the occurrence of alkali-activation of the wFCC catalyst which leads to the formation of distinctive amorphous and crystalline products. Moreover, the obtained results also suggest that initial solids composition influences the alkali-activation reaction kinetics and mechanism.engAlkali-activated bindersWaste FCC catalystMechanical strengthFTIRXRDjournal article10.15623/ijret.2014.0325019