The use of portland cement as a building material is
increasing every year. It causes an increase of the portland cement
industries in Indonesia. In its production process, portland cement emits
carbon dioxide (CO2 ) which has a negative impact on the environment.
Replacement of cement materials with natural materials can reduce cement
requirements, so it can reduce global warming. One of the methods used is
geopolymers. Geopolymers use a binder that completely does not use cement as a
binder, but using a pozzolanic material as a substitute because it contains
silica and alumina. Fly ash is one of the pozzolans which has a very high
silica and alumina content, so it is often used as a substitute for cement and
as a base material for geopolymers. Another natural source of pozzolan is
Sidoarjo mud. Sidoarjo mud has contains proportional CaO, SiO2 , Al2 O3 ,
and Fe2 O3 as materials that can be developed as a
substitute for portland cement.
The research was conducted experimentally. The purpose
of this research is to find an alternative pozzolanic material that can be used
as a geopolymer mortar mixture, using Sidoarjo mud and fly ash as a cement
substitute, which is reviewed for its compressive strength, porosity and
optimum content of geopolymer mortar with sodium silicate (Na2 SiO3 )
and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as activators with variations in the concentration
of 12 Molar NaOH at SS/SH 2 conditions. This study measures the results of the
experiments made with the compressive strength test and porosity test of cube mortar.
The optimum level of using Sidoarjo mud as a
substitute for fly ash with sodium silicate (Na2 SiO3 ) and
sodium hydroxide (NaOH) activators, as well as variations in the concentration
of 12 Molar NaOH at SS/SH 2 conditions is 0% or without using Sidoarjo mud.
This is because the results of the research on compressive strength in mix
design 2 with 0% Sidoarjo mud has the highest value at 19,84 MPa, and it has
the smallest porosity value at 13,84%. The addition of Sidoarjo mud
substitution resulted in a decrease in the compressive strength of geopolymer
mortar. The compressive strength value in mix design 3 until mix design 12
continues to decrease with the compressive strength value of mix design 2 is
19,84 MPa; mix design 3 is 18,95 MPa; mix design 4 is 18,87 MPa; mix design 5
is 17,90 MPa; mix design 6 is 17,82 MPa, mix design 7 is 16,78 MPa, mix design
8 is 15,99 MPa, mix design 9 is 13,94 MPa; mix design 10 is 13,02 MPa; mix
design 11 is 11,80 MPa, mix design 12 is 9,99 MPa.
Keywords : Geopolymer Mortar, Geopolymer, Fly Ash, Sidoarjo Mud, Compressive Strength,
Porosity.