Proceedings of Second Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj QIP Conference on Engineering Innovations

Organized by Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj College of Engineering, Ahmednagar

In Association with Novateur Publications JournalNX-ISSN No: 2581-4230
February, 22nd and 23rd, 2019
A Review on sustainability of Recycled Construction Aggregates
Piyush K. Bhandari
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, DVVP College of Engineering,
Ahmednagar, MH, India
Email: Piyush.bhandari08@gmail.com

Bhimaji D. Kanawade
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, DVVP College of Engineering,
Ahmednagar, MH, India

Abstract- Construction industry is based on the adequate II. NECESSITY OF RCA:

supply of raw materials. The rapid urbanization and Natural aggregates are basically coarse and fine
industrialization have put strain all resources. This ever- aggregates. These resources are limited in nature and
increasing demand and the shortage of natural aggregates
due to excess demand, there is a need to find an
has put a need to find new sources or alternatives for
aggregates. Recycling old materials and reusing them again
alternative for natural aggregates. Also, the
can also prove to be an effective and economical solution construction industry is facing a problem regarding
for shortage of aggregates. It will protect natural resources the disposal of construction waste. These two issues
and reduce disposal issues of construction and demolition are brought together and a solution of derived of
waste. Several attempts are made in this regard by using this waste as an alternative for natural
replacing natural aggregates by recycled construction aggregates. By reuse of recycling the construction as
aggregates (RCA) in different proportions by weight and well as demolition waste, stress on natural resources
prepares concrete mix is tested for fresh and hardened is reduced, also it seems to be an economical solution
properties. All attempts although are successful enough to to solve the above two problems. Construction waste
promote the use of RCA but the results reveal concrete with
reduced strength or additional admixtures is required to
has to suitably derived from the site and feed to a
attain original strength. Thus it increases overall recycling plant to get recycled construction
construction cost. Present review is made to put forward aggregates. The waste from the site cannot be used
these issues with RCA and efforts made to develop cost- directly. It must be first sorted, segregated and
effective solution to find sustainable recycled aggregates. grouped together as per similar properties and
Keywords- C&D waste, Recycled aggregate, Natural strength parameters. Recycled aggregates are added
Aggregate, compressive strength, workability in the percentage of natural aggregates as partial
replacement material.
I. INTRODUCTION
Market demand for coarse aggregates is 26.8 billion Sources of RCA:
tons per year globally [1]. As per records  Construction waste (rubble, brick, concrete etc.)
approximately, only 10 billion tons need is meet
 Soil and Rocks excavated from the foundation
through sand and natural rock whereas 11 billion tons
of construction waste is produced annually [2], out of  Rubble from the demolition of roads
which concrete accounts about 50 to 70% [3, 4]. This  Structural and non-structural demolition waste
concrete consumes a huge amount of cement. And
the cement industry is a major cause of greenhouse Recycling Procedure adopted to derive RCA [13]:
emissions (7% of CO2 emission globally) [5, 6, 7, 8,  Proper identification, classification, and sorting of
9]. It clearly reflects a requirement of a reliable waste
source of providing aggregates for mass concrete  Developing different techniques and management
production. The concrete thus prepared using practices for the proper recycling of construction
construction and demolition waste is termed as waste
Recycled construction aggregates (RCA). This  Government incentives and tax exemption for reuse
concrete has proven to be a step towards meeting of waste
increasing demands of concrete production. Using or  Imposing heavy charges/ taxes for landfill site and
recycling construction waste as aggregate will help to direct disposal of waste
reduce the amount of waste and preserve natural  Provide training for effective recycling and reuse of
resources [10], reduce the strain of landfilling activity waste
of construction waste [11], also RCA use will be  Make future provision of recycling the concrete
more economical as it reduces transportation cost and during its design and execution stage
landfilling debris activity in case of demolition waste
[12].

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 Proceedings of Second Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj QIP Conference on Engineering Innovations
Organized by Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj College of Engineering, Ahmednagar
In Association with Novateur Publications JournalNX-ISSN No: 2581-4230
February, 22nd and 23rd, 2019
acute water scarcity, so such method although correct
Problems associated with RCA [13]: but not practically effective. By using 100% RCA in
 High-cost investment for: concrete it would require 16% more water than
a) Sorting procedure normal concrete, this problem was also worked out
b) Transportation of waste by using water reducer admixture to attain the desired
c) On-site or plant crushers workability and desired strength [23].
 Management level It is also observed that while deriving RCA from
a) Company policies cannot change within one day construction waste, crushers are feed with
d) Unskilled labour construction/ demolition waste from heterogeneous
e) Lack of training sites consisting of concrete with random aggregate
 Logistics content. It may also contain organic impurities, wood
a) Recycled products have reduced quality and fibre-board particles, paper, thrash etc. Presence
b) Limited applications of such impurities in RCA will provide concrete with
c) Continuous supply not available reduced compressive strength by about 20 %. Such
d) Still proper segregation technique not available concrete can certainly be not used for structural
 Ecological Issues: concrete demand. The main reason for this is its
a) Heavy excavation at quarries unpredictable behaviour and properties [24]. When
b) Strain on landfill site talking about the durability of concrete consisting of
RCA, certainly the values are lower as compared to
III. LITERATURE REVIEW: natural aggregate concrete. Durability issue is
On summarizing, there are different options for resolved by using appropriate mineral admixture
recycling of construction waste, but these procedures [25]. But admixture adds to the extra cost.
are associated with different issues. When
demolished concrete is crushed, a certain amount of To rule out proper selection procedure of RCA, RCA
mortar and cement paste remains adhered to stone was added into the concrete mix at different
particles in RCA [14, 15]. This adhered material is percentage level and compared with NA concrete. To
the main factor affecting properties such as density, determine the amount of cement adhered to
porosity, and water absorption of RCA. The density aggregates, the sample is immersed in acid and
of RCA lowers by 7 to 9%, porosity increases by 4 to reduction in weight is examined to determine how
6% which makes RCA hold more water in its pores much cement paste reacted with chloride present in
than natural aggregates (NA) [16, 17]. Presence of acid. Results showed that RCA concrete has a higher
unwanted substances in derived RCA like mortar, percentage of cement paste that adhered to aggregates
ceramics, wood, soil, plastic, glass etc is also a major and these reacted aggressively with acid [26]. During
issue. Their fractional presence in RCA can cause a the assessment of RCA concrete, it showed a
significant decrease in concrete compressive strength reduction in setting time and loss of workability to a
[18, 19]. It is observed that RCA normally have greater extent, this made concrete difficult to handle
higher water absorption and lower specific gravity during its early stage [27]. Use of RCA leads
than NA [20]. These crushed aggregates are not concrete to have higher shrinkage and creep strain
suitable for structural concrete due to its porous [28]. RCA aggregate use is associated with an acute
nature. problem of bleeding in fresh concrete, thus affecting
its workability significantly. [29, 30, 31, 32, 33]
Efforts have been made to provide epoxy resins
coating to these aggregates to minimize its water IV. CONCLUSION:
absorption [21]. Results were remarking but cost Past literature review shows noticeable work done on
extra amount for coating of aggregates. Even the pre- the use of recycled aggregates in concrete. By adding
soaking method was adopted; it consists of pre- RCA in the concrete mix, its fresh and hardened
soaking aggregates to remove dust particles. This properties are worked out. Efforts are made to
helps in reducing water demand. And removal of dust achieve concrete of desired strength and durability.
particles has shown an increase in compressive But merely adding RCA has given lower values.
strength by 8 % as compared to untreated RCA. It Efforts are made to improve properties of concrete
revealed that in order to achieve higher compressive consisting of RCA. But there is a research gap
strength it requires lower granulation index, lower between demand and type of product supplied. At
mineral dust content and lower water absorption [22]. present RCA concrete is assessed for durability and
Although it can be considered an effective solution strength after addition of construction or demolition
for using RCA but still we are living in an era of waste. But there is a need to make a process change

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 Proceedings of Second Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj QIP Conference on Engineering Innovations
Organized by Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj College of Engineering, Ahmednagar
In Association with Novateur Publications JournalNX-ISSN No: 2581-4230
February, 22nd and 23rd, 2019
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 Proceedings of Second Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj QIP Conference on Engineering Innovations
Organized by Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj College of Engineering, Ahmednagar
In Association with Novateur Publications JournalNX-ISSN No: 2581-4230
February, 22nd and 23rd, 2019
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