Portland cement, lime and alkali-activated binders

Following on from last month’s discussion regarding the production of alternatives to Portland cement clinker, Arthur Harrisson takes a closer look at alkali-activated binders.

In a recent article¹ about the production of alternatives to Portland cement clinker, in the discussion of the preferred options of Gartner and Sui², mention was made of alkali-activated binders, which were considered worthy of a paper of their own. This challenge has recently been met by Provis and Van Deventer³ who have devoted a whole chapter to this subject in the Fifth Edition of ‘Lea’s Chemistry of Cement and Concrete’.