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Life Cycle Assessment of Concrete Production within a Circular Economy Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Roberto Cerchione

    (Department of Engineering, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, Isola C4, 80143 Naples, Italy)

  • Francesco Colangelo

    (Department of Engineering, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, Isola C4, 80143 Naples, Italy
    INSTM Research Unit, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, Isola C4, 80143 Naples, Italy)

  • Ilenia Farina

    (Department of Engineering, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, Isola C4, 80143 Naples, Italy
    INSTM Research Unit, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, Isola C4, 80143 Naples, Italy)

  • Patrizia Ghisellini

    (Department of Engineering, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, Isola C4, 80143 Naples, Italy)

  • Renato Passaro

    (Department of Engineering, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, Isola C4, 80143 Naples, Italy)

  • Sergio Ulgiati

    (Department of Science and Technology, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Centro Direzionale, Isola C4, 80143 Naples, Italy
    State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

Abstract

The pursuit of sustainability in the construction and demolition (C&D) sector calls for effective decision-making strategies, both in terms of technical and environmental sustainability, capable of mitigating its huge demand for resources and emissions to the environment. The recycling of C&D waste is one of the potential solutions that could reduce the extraction of virgin materials as well as waste generation and landfilling. This study evaluates and compares, by means of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, the production of concrete via five different mixtures made up of coarse natural aggregates (NA, primary, virgin materials), and coarse recycled concrete aggregates (RCA, recovered from previous uses). The present study assesses the environmental load of concrete production, by means of mixtures containing only coarse NA and mixtures with coarse RCA produced in fixed and mobile treatment plants, to be replaced with 30% and 100% of coarse NA by weight. The results point out that the use of coarse RCA in concrete mixtures provide greater energy savings and environmental advantages compared to the concrete with only coarse NA; the improvement increases up to a 100% replacement rate by weight of coarse NA with coarse RCA in the mixtures. In this case, the reduction of the impacts is significant for some impact categories such as freshwater ecotoxicity (−63.4%), marine ecotoxicity (−76.8%), human carcinogenic toxicity (−27.1%), human non-carcinogenic toxicity (−77.9%), land use (11.6%), and water consumption (−17.3%), while the total CED impacts decreases by about 10% and that of GWP by 0.4%. Results are discussed in light of the urgent need for advancing circular economy concepts and practices in the C&D sector and decrease the large use of primary resources (in particular sand and gravel). The replacement of NA with RA by weight could contribute to reducing the impacts of the C&DW management and disposal. For this to happen, further improvement of the quality of recycled aggregates is essential for their market development as well as dedicated policies and legislations.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberto Cerchione & Francesco Colangelo & Ilenia Farina & Patrizia Ghisellini & Renato Passaro & Sergio Ulgiati, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment of Concrete Production within a Circular Economy Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:14:p:11469-:d:1201495
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hossain, Md. Uzzal & Ng, S. Thomas & Antwi-Afari, Prince & Amor, Ben, 2020. "Circular economy and the construction industry: Existing trends, challenges and prospective framework for sustainable construction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    2. Sérgio Roberto Da Silva & Jairo José de Oliveira Andrade, 2022. "A Review on the Effect of Mechanical Properties and Durability of Concrete with Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) and Fly Ash in the Production of New Cement Concrete," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-27, May.
    3. Patrizia Ghisellini & Amos Ncube & Gianni D’Ambrosio & Renato Passaro & Sergio Ulgiati, 2021. "Potential Energy Savings from Circular Economy Scenarios Based on Construction and Agri-Food Waste in Italy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-23, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jan Skocek & Alexandre Ouzia & Encarnacion Vargas Serrano & Nicolas Pato, 2024. "Recycled Sand and Aggregates for Structural Concrete: Toward the Industrial Production of High-Quality Recycled Materials with Low Water Absorption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-31, January.

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