GEOSUMAT Project Progress Meeting in Prague, November 26-28 2024

The consortium of GEOSUMAT met at the Department of Material Engineering and Chemistry, CTU in Prague, the Czech Republic from 26-28 Nov 2024. The progress meeting was organized by dr. Lukáš Fiala and moderated by dr. Iveta Nováková as the project leader.

During this three-day event, the consortium partners from PK (Poland), UiT (Norway), CTU (the Czech Republic), BBU (Romania), ReforceTech (Norway), Gerosion (Iceland), Górtech (Poland), and Chemstr (the Czech Republic) attended the meetings in person and online.

The meeting was started with afternoon gathering on Tuesday afternoon where general ideas for research and collaboration were discussed. The second day involved a three-part presentation from dr. Tomasz Zdeb and dr. Mateusz Sitarz from PK on the geopolymer development.

First part of the presentation showed the results of the mechanical properties for geopolymer mixtures containing steel fibers or basalt minibars. Second presentation showed the durability properties of the geopolymers made at PK, including water penetration depth, freeze/thaw resistance, and chloride penetration. Third presentation presented the work done at the Department of Material Engineering (PK), where the tests were conducted to determine CO2 adsorption, as well as the mechanical properties of geopolymers with PV, RDF, and organic fibers.

After presenting the research work, the consortium discussed the administrative matters of the project, future steps, and planning the project conclusion in the next year 2025. Within this section, dr. Sofija Kekez presented the project exploitation plan which is due for the project conclusion.

Third day of the Prague meeting started with presentations given by CTU partners dr. Lukáš Fiala and dr. Jan Fořt on several topics. Initially, the progress on the development of geopolymers with freshwater sediments was presented and discussed. Further, the results of mechanical tests of alkali-activated materials based on brick waste were presented. And finally, the self-heating properties of the developed geopolymers were showed with promising initial results. 

Next presentation was made by dr. Gabriel Furtos, discussing the influence of reinforcement layout and direction in fly-ash based geopolymer reinforced with AR glass fibers from ReforceTech. Aftewards, dr. Jan Přikryl gave a comprehensive review on the carbon footprint and circular economy, as well as the current stage and progress of the research done at Gerosion. The presentation section of the meeting was concluded by dr. Iveta Nováková that shared the results and progress on the development of geopolymers with alternative waterglass activator and waste wood ash.

At the end of the third day of the project progress meeting, the consortium partners were invited for a tour of the laboratory facilities led by the meeting host, dr. Lukáš Fiala at CTU. Several testing set-ups were shown, with interactive presentation of the equipment.

The partners expressed great interest in furthering the collaboration beyond the project framework within the existing consortium and brainstormed about the possibilities for further development of geopolymers/alkali-activated materials for circular economy.