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Optimal Design of pH-neutral Geopolymer Foams for Their Use in Ecological Plant Cultivation Systems

We have calculated that with the world population projected to increase from 7.5 billion in 2017 to 9.8 in 2050, the next generation (within 33 years) will produce 12,000–13,000 Mt of plastic, and that the yearly consumption will reach 37–40 kilos of plastic per person worldwide. One of the branches...

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Autores principales: Szechyńska-Hebda, Magdalena, Marczyk, Joanna, Ziejewska, Celina, Hordyńska, Natalia, Mikuła, Janusz, Hebda, Marek
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6766294/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31527464
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma12182999
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author Szechyńska-Hebda, Magdalena
Marczyk, Joanna
Ziejewska, Celina
Hordyńska, Natalia
Mikuła, Janusz
Hebda, Marek
author_facet Szechyńska-Hebda, Magdalena
Marczyk, Joanna
Ziejewska, Celina
Hordyńska, Natalia
Mikuła, Janusz
Hebda, Marek
author_sort Szechyńska-Hebda, Magdalena
collection PubMed
description We have calculated that with the world population projected to increase from 7.5 billion in 2017 to 9.8 in 2050, the next generation (within 33 years) will produce 12,000–13,000 Mt of plastic, and that the yearly consumption will reach 37–40 kilos of plastic per person worldwide. One of the branches of the plastics industry is the production of plastics for agriculture e.g., seed trays and pots. In this paper, novel metakaolin-based geopolymer composites reinforced with cellulosic fibres are presented as an alternative to plastic pots. Materials can be dedicated to agricultural applications, provided they have neutral properties, however, geopolymer paste and its final products have high pH. Therefore, a two-step protocol of neutralisation of the geopolymer foam pots was optimised and implemented. The strength of the geopolymer samples was lower when foams were neutralised. The reinforcement of geopolymers with cellulose clearly prevented the reduction of mechanical properties after neutralisation, which was correlated with the lower volume of pores in the foam and with the cellulose chemical properties. Both, neutralisation and reinforcement with cellulose can also eliminate an efflorescence. Significantly increased plant growth was found in geopolymer pots in comparison to plastic pots. The cellulose in geopolymers resulted in better adsorption and slower desorption of minerals during fertilisation. This effect could also be associated with a lower number of large pores in the presence of cellulose fibres in pots, and thus more stable pore filling and better protection of internal surface interactions.
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spelling pubmed-67662942019-09-30 Optimal Design of pH-neutral Geopolymer Foams for Their Use in Ecological Plant Cultivation Systems Szechyńska-Hebda, Magdalena Marczyk, Joanna Ziejewska, Celina Hordyńska, Natalia Mikuła, Janusz Hebda, Marek Materials (Basel) Article We have calculated that with the world population projected to increase from 7.5 billion in 2017 to 9.8 in 2050, the next generation (within 33 years) will produce 12,000–13,000 Mt of plastic, and that the yearly consumption will reach 37–40 kilos of plastic per person worldwide. One of the branches of the plastics industry is the production of plastics for agriculture e.g., seed trays and pots. In this paper, novel metakaolin-based geopolymer composites reinforced with cellulosic fibres are presented as an alternative to plastic pots. Materials can be dedicated to agricultural applications, provided they have neutral properties, however, geopolymer paste and its final products have high pH. Therefore, a two-step protocol of neutralisation of the geopolymer foam pots was optimised and implemented. The strength of the geopolymer samples was lower when foams were neutralised. The reinforcement of geopolymers with cellulose clearly prevented the reduction of mechanical properties after neutralisation, which was correlated with the lower volume of pores in the foam and with the cellulose chemical properties. Both, neutralisation and reinforcement with cellulose can also eliminate an efflorescence. Significantly increased plant growth was found in geopolymer pots in comparison to plastic pots. The cellulose in geopolymers resulted in better adsorption and slower desorption of minerals during fertilisation. This effect could also be associated with a lower number of large pores in the presence of cellulose fibres in pots, and thus more stable pore filling and better protection of internal surface interactions. MDPI 2019-09-16 /pmc/articles/PMC6766294/ /pubmed/31527464 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma12182999 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Szechyńska-Hebda, Magdalena
Marczyk, Joanna
Ziejewska, Celina
Hordyńska, Natalia
Mikuła, Janusz
Hebda, Marek
Optimal Design of pH-neutral Geopolymer Foams for Their Use in Ecological Plant Cultivation Systems
title Optimal Design of pH-neutral Geopolymer Foams for Their Use in Ecological Plant Cultivation Systems
title_full Optimal Design of pH-neutral Geopolymer Foams for Their Use in Ecological Plant Cultivation Systems
title_fullStr Optimal Design of pH-neutral Geopolymer Foams for Their Use in Ecological Plant Cultivation Systems
title_full_unstemmed Optimal Design of pH-neutral Geopolymer Foams for Their Use in Ecological Plant Cultivation Systems
title_short Optimal Design of pH-neutral Geopolymer Foams for Their Use in Ecological Plant Cultivation Systems
title_sort optimal design of ph-neutral geopolymer foams for their use in ecological plant cultivation systems
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6766294/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31527464
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma12182999
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