Integration between Sustainability and Value Engineering in the Production of Eco-Friendly Concrete

Abstract

The global concrete and construction industry’s growth has led to a shift in priorities, with a greater emphasis placed on sustainability. Hence, with technological advances, the concrete industry seeks additional cementitious materials to produce value-added products. By emphasizing the financial, ecological, and technological benefits of using fly ash as a partial cement replacement, the study constructed a framework which integrates the economic, environmental, and social pillars of sustainability through value engineering. Experimental results from 42 previous studies are analyzed and presented to underline the unique characteristics of fly ash concrete alternatives across five criteria (replacement, strength gain, compressive strength, slump, and permeability), showing how they differ from conventional concrete, and how they can be used to implement sustainable practices with positive financial outcomes. This study showed that the alternatives’ value gradually increases up to two times at 50% cement replacement. On the other hand, while the construction cost gradually increased to a peak of 19.69%, the life cycle cost went down by 41.45% at the same percentage. Thus, customers can emphasize the superiority of eco-friendly concrete while also highlighting the economic benefits, making it a more competitive option for them and expanding its market.

The Green Value Engineering Methodology: A Sustainability-Driven Project Management Tool for Capital Projects in Process Industry

“…Very few cases of Value Engineering methods driven by sustainability indicators are mentioned in the literature, mostly in the field of civil constructions [49,50]. One recent paper explores the association of circular economy and value engineering for the barrel manufacturing industry [51]; however, to the best of the authors' knowledge, no specific methods for the process industry have been made available yet.…”