Development of fly ash-based geopolymers using powder sodium silicate activator

•A ready-mix geopolymer were prepared with powder sodium silicate.•Geopolymer manufacture with powder activator was easy and simple.•Economic advantage for a process implementation at a commercial scale.•Powder and aqueous activator shows diferences in the geopolymeric gel development.•Powder-geopolymer showed better response to durability test.