Wet Chemistry Treatment and Surface Modification of Recycled Glass Particles for Sustainable Construction Applications

The surface contamination or bulk impurities in the matrix of soda-lime glass can significantly alter glass properties and via leaching influenced the alternative glass waste utilization as a partial replacement for sand or binder in concrete-based materials for sustainable construction applications.Therefore, in this work, we perform wet chemistry (different pH) treatment of the recycled glass particles obtained from the commercial source.The resulting changes in glass particle properties were analyzed using microscopic and spectroscopic techniques.Changes in the concentrations of Mg, Al, Ca and Na near the particle surfaces were detected, indicating potential elements release.For instance, treatment in HCl resulted in a decrease of all observed non-silica ions in the glass subsurface region while NaOH treatment resulted in a slight increase of Ca amount in the subsurface region which potentially can positively affect the calcium-silicate-hydrate formation in concrete-based constructions.The observed results can be helpful in the explanation of processes at interfacial transition zones in waste glass containing concrete-based materials.