Geopolymer concrete as green building materials: Recent applications, sustainable development and circular economy potentials

Environmental degradation and increased greenhouse gas emissions force communities to achieve sustainable green building and construction materials. The environmental and financial aspects of sustainable development and circular economy strongly depend on the recycling of wastes into new products. Geopolymers gained increasing attention because of their eco-friendly and superior mechanical characteristics and their ability to utilize numerous wastes as precursors. Although there are numerous studies on geopolymer, little attention was focused on geopolymer concrete (GeoC). Hence, This review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) investigated in detail GeoC. The first part of this study explores the recent synthesis processes, different precursors, and applications of geopolymer concrete (GeoC) in numerous sectors as well as the mechanical, microstructural, and physical related characteristics of GeoC developed from various wastes. The second part discusses in detail the contributions of GeoC to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) stated by the United Nations. The last part discusses the implementation of different wastes to develop GeoC–based circular economy to provide recommendations and prospects for GeoC science and technology. An eco-friendly, sustainable, structurally sound GeoC matrixes can be developed from numerous industrial, municipal, and agricultural wastes. Such GeoC is a good candidate to traditional concrete and some other building materials. GeoC is strongly contribute into 12 SDGs of the main 17 SDGs. Optimizing the elements of GeoC would decrease its cost and thus promote a green circular economy.