Role of Cement & Concrete in

Sustainable Development

Kimberly Kurtis

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering,

Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology

Engineers for a Sustainable World

November 15, 2012

Outline

ƒ Context
– Why do we care about cement and concrete, in particular?

ƒ Case Study
– Assessment and Utilization of Recycled Aggregate

1
 What are cement & concrete?
Some common mineral cements:
– portland (calcium silicate-based) – gypsum (plaster of paris)
– calcium aluminate – calcium sulfoaluminate
– some dental
d t l and d bone
b cementst – aluminosilicate
l i ili t

Cement paste = +

M t =
Mortar + +

Concrete = + + +

Impacts of Infrastructure on Environment

At the global level, the built environment in each
country is estimated to account for:
ƒ 25-40% of the energy consumption
ƒ 30-40% of the material resource consumption
ƒ 30-40% of the waste production
ƒ 30-40% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) release
Materials manufacture (cement, 70% of raw materials
plastics, metals) currently consumed are used in
accounts for 20-25% of construction
worldwide energy consumption

Each year, 200M tons of

construction wastes are
discarded in landfills

Source: http://www.ntnu.no/sustainability/crucial

2
 Why do we care about cement & concrete?
ƒ The ubiquity of concrete construction presents an
incredible opportunity for impact through development of
innovative green technologies

Ashby, 2009

With >20Bt placed

each year, concrete is
most widely used
construction material

Concrete Production
ƒ Embodied energy associated with concrete production

~ ¼ barrel oil per yard

or ~ 2 tons of concrete

PCA, SN3001

3
Cement Manufacture: Review
Traditional cement manufacture:
ƒ Utilizes virgin materials: 1.5 t raw material is required for
1 t cement
ƒ Energy intensive: 6-8% worldwide fuel consumption
ƒ Fossil fuel intensive
ƒ Liberates CO2: CaCO3 –heat-> CaO + CO2 (Ç)
CaCO3 (limestone)
2SiO2•Al2O3 (clay, shale)
Fe2O3 (iron oxide)
SiO2 (silica sand)

Kiln
CO2 Emissions
3CaO•SiO2
2CaO•SiO2
Fuel CaO•SO3•2H2O 3CaO•Al2O3
40% Gypsum + Clinker 4CaO•Al2O3•Fe2O3
CaCO3
60% Finished
interground
cement

WRI, 2005

4
Cement Manufacture
ƒ Tremendous (40%) improvements in energy efficiency
ƒ Alternatives to fossil fuel combustion would decrease CO2
emissions associated with energy use
– Waste fuels – Hydro (regional, enviro concerns)
– Nuclear
N l ((enviro
i concerns)) – S
Solar
l (i(inefficient)
ffi i t)
ƒ Carbon capture???
Wet process (pre-1970’s)

Dry process (modern)

Role of Aggregates?
ƒ Recycled waste/by-product Cement
materials Water
Air
– recycled concrete Fine Aggregate
65-75% of volume
– recycled tires
is stone & sand
– slag…
ƒ Potential for CO2
capture/sequestration
Coarse Aggregate
– reaction with hydrated cement
in recycled concrete
aggregates
– overcoming crushing energy
critical for this application
ƒ Pervious concrete pervious concrete layer
– control runoff
– filtration
open-graded gravel base
sources: PCA; Offenburg, Conc. Int., 2005.

5
Outline

ƒ Context
– Why do we care about cement and concrete, in particular?

ƒ Case Study
– Assessment and Utilization of Recycled Aggregate

Recycled Aggregate Concrete

ƒ Aggregate extraction can Each year, 200M tons of
contribute to: construction wastes are
discarded in landfills;
– Particulate matter generation/ release 100M tons are concrete
– Noise
N i pollution
ll ti
– Energy consumption (<10% of
concrete EE)
– GHG emissions (<< cement)

ƒ Aggregate is a high bulk,

low value commodity
ƒ Recycled concrete aggregate
(RCA) is primarily used low-
value applications; in road
base and as fill, with more
limited usage in structural
concrete

6
 Why would we
want to use
this as a case
study?
y
“Scientists warned… (the
earth) has not created a
significant number of new
rocks since the earth
cooled some 3.5B years
ago.
Moreover, … (this supply
has) been very slowly
depleting… due to
growing demand for
fireplace mantels, rock
gardens, gravel and
paperweights.”

Source: The Onion

Recycled Aggregate Concrete

ƒ Recycling concrete as aggregate makes most economic
and ecological sense in regions that are:
– Space constrained
– Resource constrained
– Other (e.g., economic incentives,
abundance of recyclable material)

Increasing rates of aggregate recycling have largely stemmed from

increased taxation on both mineral extraction and waste landfilling.

7
Recycling Aggregate in Caribbean
ƒ The 2010 Haiti earthquake resulted in ~20 million cubic yards of
debris, enough to fill the Louisiana Superdome five times over .
ƒ It is estimated that debris removal could take 20 years or more to
accomplish at current removal rates.
ƒ Two years following the earthquake in Haiti, reconstruction
progresses slowly.

What to do with debris?

ƒ In Haiti, as in other Caribbean islands:
– Population density is high; landfilling debris is not a viable option
– Environmental issues likely prevent use as fill or in artificial reefs
– Limited natural resources for new construction
ƒ Finding a way to safely reuse the debris can have a huge
positive impact on rebuilding efforts, while simultaneously
minimizing the impact on the environment, and ultimately is
a key to accelerating reconstruction.

Lessons learned can

be applied in other
countries and after
other types of events

8
 Research Plan

ƒ Objective: To determine if Haitian concrete debris could

be combined with other local materials to produce good
quality concrete.
ƒ Steps:
– Obtain Haitian concrete and local fine aggregate; assess their
quality
– Crush concrete to produce aggregate
– Characterize recycled aggregate and local virgin aggregates to
obtain properties needed for mix design
– Design, produce, and test concrete mixes
– Assess long-term performance

Haitian Concrete Quality

ƒ Proportioning often done by eye
ƒ Mixing performed often by hand

fcave= 1300psi

56-day strength results for cylinders

batched and cast in Haiti

Low strength of debris is a significant

challenge for reuse in structural concrete

9
Concrete Æ Aggregate Æ Concrete

Concrete Strength Results

Concrete used as Aggregate
fcave= 1300psi
How can a concrete
strength be greater than
the strength of the
aggregate from which it is
produced?

Recycled Aggregate Concrete

fcave= 3100psi
p

10
 Further Testing/Implementation

ƒ Variation with RCA source

– Define limits on properties
– Develop specifications
ƒ Long-term performance
– Shrinkage, creep
– Durability
– Seismic behavior of RCA concrete
ƒ Environmental impacts
– LCI/LCA
– Dynamic assessment needed during reconstruction
ƒ Based upon these results Æ Systematic recycling efforts
can be developed
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-
gen/blogs/austin/charity/entries/2011/01/10/haiti_one_year_l
ater.html

Further Testing/Implementation
ƒ Assessment of seismic performance of code-based and
underreinforced beam-column connections, containing virgin
and recycled concrete aggregate.

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Questions?

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