Use of Recycled Aggregates for Low Carbon and Cost Effective Concrete Construction

Reducing the carbon footprint of activities and a more prudent use of natural resources require for concrete production is a significant concern on the grounds of environmental and economical sustainability. It is widely reported that the concrete industry contributes around 8% to total global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions whereas cement utilization contributes approximately 90% of these emissions. Moreover, natural resources are becoming scarce and the world has become environmentally conscious. Against this background, reported work carried out to assess BS EN 197-1 cement concretes made with natural and partially substituted recycled aggregates and thus their suitability for use in low carbon cost effective concrete construction. In that respect, supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) additive cements were selected to reduce the potential carbon footprint and establish fresh and hardened properties of natural aggregate concrete (NAC) mixes for equivalent 28-day compressive cube strengths of 40 and 50 N/mm2. Then, a further investigation was carried out to assess the potential embodied CO2 (ECO2) emissions and cost analysis and performance of partially substituted recycled aggregates (coarse recycled aggregate (RA) and recycled glass sand (RGS) with proportions of 25% and 15% respectively by mass replacement).