An experimental study on durability properties of concrete containing zeolite as a highly reactive natural pozzolan

► Zeolite showed more pozzolanic activity than amorphous natural pozzolans. ► The use of 15% zeolite improved strength and durability of concrete. ► Zeolite improved chloride penetration and corrosion rate of concrete. ► The shrinkage of zeolite incorporated samples was lower than the control sample. The concrete industry is known to be responsible for a great amount of CO2 emissions generated during the production of Portland cement. In this paper, the application of natural zeolite as a supplementary cementitious material has been investigated. To this aim, some mechanical and durability properties of concrete made with 15% and 30% of natural zeolite are studied in comparison with concrete without natural zeolite replacement. The results revealed considerable effectiveness of natural zeolite application on water penetration, chloride ion penetration, corrosion rate and drying shrinkage of concrete; however, satisfactory performance was not observed in acid environment. Altogether, from the practical point of view, the incorporation of 15% natural zeolite was found as an appropriate option for improving strength and durability properties of concrete.