1 Laboratoire des Infrastructures Intelligentes et des Technologies de l'Environnement Connectés (LabI2TEC), Institut Supérieur du Bâtiment et des Travaux Publics, F-13009 Marseille, France.
2 Department of Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, QC H3G 1M8, Canada.
3 Institut Mines-Télécom Lille Douai, Université de Lille, ULR 4515-LGCgE, F-59000 Douai, France.
4 Materials and Durability, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.

Recent literature has exhibited a growing interest in the utilization of ground glass powder (GP) as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM). Yet, the application of SCMs in stabilizing heavy metallic and metalloid elements remains underexplored. This research zeroes in on zinc stabilization using a binder amalgam of GP and ordinary Portland cement (OPC). This study juxtaposes the stability of zinc in a recomposed binder consisting of 30% GP and 70% OPC (denoted as 30GP-M) against a reference binder of 100% CEM I 52.5 N (labeled reference mortar, RM) across curing intervals of 1, 28, and 90 days. Remarkably, the findings indicate a heightened kinetic immobilization of Zn at 90 days in the presence of GP-surging up to 40% in contrast to RM. Advanced microstructural analyses delineate the stabilization locales for Zn, including on the periphery of hydrated C₃S particles (Zn-C₃S), within GP-reactive sites (Si*-O-Zn), and amid C-S-H gel structures, i.e., (C/Zn)-S-H. A matrix with 30% GP bolsters the hydration process of C₃S vis-à-vis the RM matrix. Probing deeper, the microstructural characterization underscores GP's prowess in Zn immobilization, particularly at the interaction zone with the paste. In the Zn milieu, it was discerning a transmutation-some products born from the GP-Portlandite reaction morph into GP-calcium-zincate.