RFID-based material passport system in a recycled concrete circular chain

The construction industry urgently requires a resilient information system for effective coordination of data transmission among various stakeholders, including both the public and private sectors. Such an advanced digital solution would not only enhance transparency along the value chain but also improve both the quality of and confidence in...

Circularity in Practice: Review of Main Current Approaches and Strategic Propositions for an Efficient Circular Economy of Materials

This paper aims to summarize, propose, and discuss existing or emerging strategies to shift towards a circular economy of materials. To clarify the landscape of existing circular practices, a new spectrum is proposed, from product-based strategies, where entire products go through several life cycles without being reprocessed, to material-based...

Cluster-based identification algorithm for in-line recycled concrete aggregates characterization using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)

To upcycle End-of-Life (EoL) concrete from demolished buildings, it is essential to efficiently identify the different materials that may contaminate it. The precise identification and classification of materials and contaminants are vital processes for in-line quality inspection of recycled concrete aggregates transported on a conveyor belt....

Comprehensive study on the most sustainable concrete design made of recycled concrete, glass and mineral wool from C&D wastes

This study focuses on formulating the most sustainable concrete by incorporating recycled concrete aggregates and other products retrieved from construction and demolition (C&D) activities. Both recycled coarse aggregates (RCA) and recycled fine aggregates (RFA) are firstly used to fully replace the natural coarse and fine aggregates in...

Innovative technologies for recycling End-of-Life concrete waste in the built environment

Currently, natural resources are consumed at an alarming rate than their production (United Nations Environment Programme, 2014). This imposes unprecedented pressure on the environment. The problem seems to get worse with the present increase in population and demand for infrastructures. To alleviate these and other related problems, a circular...

Closing the loop of EOL concrete

Production of waste materials, via industrial and human activities, creates big environmental and economic problems but also opportunities to recover valuable resources. EU28 currently generates 461 million tons per year of ever more complex Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) with average recycling rates of around 46%. There is still a...

Numerical modelling of the dehydration of waste concrete fines: An attempt to close the recycling loop

The ever-increasing interest on sustainable raw materials has urged the quest for recycled materials that can be used as a partial or total replacement of fine fractions in the production of concrete. This paper demonstrates a modelling study of recycled concrete waste fines and the possibility of turning them into active constituents for the...

Recycling of End of Life Concrete to New Concrete (PPT)

A Robust Indicator for Promoting Circular Economy through Recycling

In order to move towards a more sustainable development, it is necessary not only to minimize the use of materials in the design stage and to find new materials as alternatives to nonrenewable ones (e.g. optical fiber instead of copper, biopolymers instead of polymers from oil) but also to reclaim as much as possible material value through...

Recycling end-of-life concrete: The C2CA project

Magnetic fluid equipment for sorting of secondary polyolefins from waste

The paper presents the researches made on the FP7 project „Magnetic Sorting and Ultrasound Sensor Technologies for Production of High Purity Secondary Polyolefins from Waste” in order to develop a magnetic fluid equipment for sorting of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) from polymers mixed waste streams. Because both PP and PE float in...

Recycling of WEEE by magnetic density separation

The paper introduces a new recycling method of WEEE: Magnetic Density Separation. By using this technology, both grade and recovery rate of recycled products are over 90%. Good separations are not only observed in relatively big WEEE samples, but also in samples with smaller sizes or electrical wires.