Sustainability of the concrete industry: Current trends and future outlook

Tošić, Nikola; Marinković, Snežana; Stojanović, Aleksandar

doi:10.5937/tehnika1701038t

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…According to Rutkowska et al (2020), concrete has proven to be excellent disposal means for fly ash, silica fume, ground granulated blast furnace slag, and marble powder which can trap hazardous materials and also enhance the properties of concrete. Interestingly, the global construction industry consumes an estimated 20 billion tons of concrete every year and this large annual production of concrete consequently leads to an equally large estimated consumption of component materials of about 15 billion tons of aggregates and 4.2 billion tons of cement (Tosic et al, 2017). Taking into account the huge volume of concrete produced annually, the concrete industry is unquestionably one of the ideal mediums for the economic and safe use of millions of post-consumer waste plastics (Sandanayake et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compressive Strength Characteristics of Concrete Modified With Treated High-Density Polyethylene

Anum¹,

Job²

2021

CSID-JID

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Waste plastic materials are typical wastes of interest to researchers and are arguably the most common forms of waste, especially in African cities. The reuse of plastic waste in concrete matrices has the potentials to contribute to the development of sustainable concrete likely to conserve resources and prevent pollution. However, the inclusion of plastics in concrete has been reported to have a negative impact on its compressive strength behaviour. This research is aimed at ameliorating this negative impact through pulverisation and chemical treatment of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) before its use as an admixture for concrete production. Concretes of Grades M25 and M50 were prepared using (150 x150 x 150) mm steel moulds, adopting the BRE mix design method. The concrete mix was modified with pulverised High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) treated with 20% hydrogen peroxide at (0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1%) by weight of cement. Hydroplast-500, a superplasticizer was used throughout the study in order of 1000litres/50kg by weight of cement. A constant water/cement ratio of 0.4 and 0.36 was adopted for requisite workability for Grades M25 and M50 concretes respectively. After 7, 28, and 90 days of curing in water, the concrete cubes were dried and tested for their compressive strengths. Results obtained showed that at HDPE content beyond 0.5%, restrained hydration takes negative effects on the concrete. It was also shown that the designed compressive strengths of the tested samples were satisfactorily met in all cases indicating improvement in the compressive behaviour of the samples. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that treated pulverised HDPE could be used as an admixture in concretes without compromising their compressive strengths.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compressive Strength Characteristics of Concrete Modified With Treated High-Density Polyethylene

Anum¹,

Job²

2021

CSID-JID

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“…Doubling the processing energy will add 16 MJ m −3 EE and 3 kg CO 2 eq m −3 EC to the process, while reducing it by half will result in respective decreases of 9 MJ m −3 and 1.5 kg CO 2 eq m −3 . Taking the extreme scenarios for all three parameters, we obtain an EE ranging from 486.3 to 1245 MJ m −3 and an EC ranging from −129 to 52 kg CO 2 eq per m 3 for the fungal mycelium materials.…”

Section: ■ Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Building operation and construction, including the production of building and insulating materials, are responsible for the largest share of global energy use (36%) and energy-related CO 2 emissions (39%). − More than 33 billion tons of cement-based concrete are produced every year worldwide, and the cement industry alone accounts for some 8% of global CO 2 emissions. , The energy demand and carbon footprint of the construction industry are expected to rise because of the growing world population and the fact that urbanization processes continue to accelerate in developing countries . Hence, the realization of long-term sustainability goals is highly dependent on the development and use of building materials with a lower environmental impact.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fungal Mycelium Bio-Composite Acts as a CO₂-Sink Building Material with Low Embodied Energy

Livne

Wösten

Pearlmutter

et al. 2022

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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As part of the global transformation to a circular economy, modern society faces the challenge of developing sustainable building materials that do not deplete nonrenewable resources or generate environmentally destructive waste. Bio-composites based on fungal mycelium grown on agricultural waste streams have the potential to serve this purpose, reducing the ecological impact of the construction industry and the conventional materials on which it currently relies. In addition to the possible advantages in the production and postuse phases of their life cycle, mycelium bio-composites are lightweight and highly insulating, thus providing valuable thermal properties for reducing energy consumption and emissions over the operational lifespan of the building. In this study, a comprehensive life cycle assessment of mycelium bio-composites was conducted, focusing on the embodied energy (EE) and embodied carbon (EC). Part of the CO2 that is emitted is the result of the fungal growth. Therefore, a novel calculation method was developed to assess the metabolic carbon emissions as a function of weight loss during the growth period. Using a cradle-to-gate model of the production process, the EE of the mycelium bio-composite was estimated to be 860 MJ m–3, which represents a 1.5- to 6-fold reduction compared with that of the common construction materials. The EC was calculated to be −39.5 kg CO2eq m–3, its negative value indicating that the fungal bio-composite effectively functions as a CO2 sink, in contrast to currently used construction materials that have a positive EC. The incubation stage of mycelium bio-composite production made up the largest portion (73%) of the overall energy, while metabolic CO2 comprised a significant proportion (21%) of the overall emissions as well. Altogether, our results demonstrate that using bio-composite building materials based on fungal mycelium and local plant residues can provide a sustainable alternative to current practice.

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“…80-85% of natural raw aggregate depending on the targeted material characteristics [45]. With the global use of concrete amounting up to 20 billion tons annually [46], consumption of aggregate could be around 16 to 17 billion tons. Although natural raw aggregates are part of non-critical raw materials [47], extraction of these materials has an impact on the environment and landscape [48].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foam Glass Lightened Sorel’s Cement Composites Doped with Coal Fly Ash

et al. 2021

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Lightweight Sorel’s cement composites doped with coal fly ash were produced and tested. Commercially available foam granulate was used as lightening aggregate. For comparison, reference composites made of magnesium oxychloride cement (MOC) and quartz sand were tested as well. The performed experiments included X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, scanning electron microscopy, light microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy analyses. The macro- and microstructural parameters, mechanical resistance, stiffness, hygric, and thermal parameters of the 28-days matured composites were also researched. The combined use of foam glass and fly ash enabled to get a material of low weight, high porosity, sufficient strength and stiffness, low water imbibition, and greatly improved thermal insulation performance. The developed lightweight composites can be considered as further step in the design and production of alternative and sustainable materials for construction industry.

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Sustainability of the concrete industry: Current trends and future outlook

Cited by 14 publications

References 25 publications

Compressive Strength Characteristics of Concrete Modified With Treated High-Density Polyethylene

Compressive Strength Characteristics of Concrete Modified With Treated High-Density Polyethylene

Fungal Mycelium Bio-Composite Acts as a CO₂-Sink Building Material with Low Embodied Energy

Foam Glass Lightened Sorel’s Cement Composites Doped with Coal Fly Ash

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Sustainability of the concrete industry: Current trends and future outlook

Cited by 14 publications

References 25 publications

Compressive Strength Characteristics of Concrete Modified With Treated High-Density Polyethylene

Compressive Strength Characteristics of Concrete Modified With Treated High-Density Polyethylene

Fungal Mycelium Bio-Composite Acts as a CO2-Sink Building Material with Low Embodied Energy

Foam Glass Lightened Sorel’s Cement Composites Doped with Coal Fly Ash

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Fungal Mycelium Bio-Composite Acts as a CO₂-Sink Building Material with Low Embodied Energy