Development of a Lightweight Low-Carbon Footprint Concrete Containing Recycled Waste Materials

Abstract

Use of any recycled material helps to maintain a greener environment by keeping waste materials out of the landfills. Recycling practices also can decrease the environmental and economical impact of manufacturing the materials from virgin resources, which reduces the overall carbon footprint of industrial materials and processes. This study examined the use of waste materials such as crushed glass, ground tire rubber, and recycled aggregate in concrete. Compressive strength and elastic modulus were the primary parameters of interest. Results demonstrated that ground tire rubber introduced significant amounts of air into the mix and adversely affected the strength. The introduction of a defoamer was able to successfully remove part of the excess air from the mix, but the proportional strength improvements were not noted implying that air left in the defoamed mixture had undesirable characteristics. Freeze-thaw tests were next performed to understand the nature of air in the defoamed mixtures, and results demonstrated that this air is not helpful in resisting freeze-thaw resistance either. Overall, while lightweight, low-carbon footprint concrete materials seem possible from recycled materials, significant further optimization remains possible.

Eco-friendly High-Strength Concrete Engineered by Micro Crumb Rubber from Recycled Tires and Plastics for Railway Components

“…The replacement of concrete aggregates with rubber particles could potentially reduce the carbon footprint of the concrete. 54 As shown from the life cycle of concrete (see fig. 4), production of CRC leads to a reduction in the use of natural materials, rubber wastes, and transportation energy due to its light weight, etc.…”

Short Review on the Use of Oil Palm Shell in Concrete and Activated Carbon

“…Once they adjoin in the concrete matrix, they will not infect or percolate to produce toxic substances due to the rigid surfaces of organic origin. In addition, OPS are lighter than the conventional coarse aggregate so the resulting concrete will be lightweight [35]. OPS replacement coarse aggregate is able to attain the strength of more than 17 MPa [34], which is a necessity for structural lightweight concrete as per ASTM (ASTM C330).…”

Carbon Footprint of Recycled Aggregate Concrete

“…Building materials, such as concrete, are increasingly being questioned for their environmental impact; because construction and demolition waste is a major component of all the waste generated by the construction industry, and to reduce the pressure on the exploitation natural resources, industry has focused on finding greener ways to produce concrete, encouraging the use of recycled materials to replace virgin materials [2].…”