Recycled Aggregate: A Viable Solution for Sustainable Concrete Production

Markssuel Marvila; Paulo de Matos; Erich Rodríguez; Sergio Neves Monteiro; Afonso R G de Azevedo

doi:10.3390/ma15155276

Recycled Aggregate: A Viable Solution for Sustainable Concrete Production

Materials (Basel). 2022 Jul 30;15(15):5276. doi: 10.3390/ma15155276.

Authors

Markssuel Marvila¹, Paulo de Matos², Erich Rodríguez², Sergio Neves Monteiro³, Afonso R G de Azevedo⁴

Affiliations

¹ Advanced Materials Laboratory (LAMAV), UFV-Federal University of Viçosa Campus Rio Paranaíba (UFV-CRP), Rodovia BR 230 KM 7, Rio Paranaíba 38810-000, Brazil.
² Department of Structures and Civil Construction, UFSM-Federal University of Santa Maria, Coordenadoria Acadêmica, Rodovia Taufik Germano, 3013, Cachoeira do Sul 96503-205, Brazil.
³ Military Engineering Institute, IME-Materials Science Program, Praça Gen. Tibúrcio, 80, Urca, Rio de Janeiro 22290-270, Brazil.
⁴ LECIV-Civil Engineering Laboratory, UENF-State University of the Northern Rio de Janeiro, Av. Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes 28013-602, Brazil.

Abstract

Construction and demolition activities consume large amounts of natural resources, generating 4.5 bi tons of solid waste/year, called construction and demolition waste (C&DW) and other wastes, such as ceramic, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), glass, and slag. Furthermore, around 32 bi tons of natural aggregate (NA) are extracted annually. In this scenario, replacing NA with recycled aggregate (RA) from C&DW and other wastes can mitigate environmental problems. We review the use of RA for concrete production and draw the main challenges and outlook. RA reduces concrete's fresh and hardened performance compared to NA, but these reductions are often negligible when the replacement levels are kept up to 30%. Furthermore, we point out efficient strategies to mitigate these performance reductions. Efforts must be spent on improving the efficiency of RA processing and the international standardization of RA.

Keywords: concrete; construction and demolition waste; recycled aggregate; sustainable construction.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

P.d.M. and E.R. acknowledge CAPES, CNPq, and FAPERGS (Grant number 21/2551-0000723-0). A.R.G.A. and M.M. acknowledge CAPES, CNPq, and FAPERJ. The participation of A.R.G.A. was sponsored by FAPERJ through the research fellowships proc. no: E-26/210.150/2019, E-26/211.194/2021, E-26/211.293/2021, and E-26/201.310/2021 and by CNPq through the research fellowship PQ2 307592/2021-9.