Carbonation of Recycled Concrete Aggregates for New Concrete and Concrete Fines to Make Cement-Free Hollow Blocks

Jef Bergmans (), Hadi Kazemi Kamyab, Debabrata Ghosh, Peter Van Mierloo, Hilde Carens and Peter Nielsen ()
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Jef Bergmans: Sustainable Materials, Flemish Institute for Technological Research, VITO NV, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
Hadi Kazemi Kamyab: Sustainable Materials, Flemish Institute for Technological Research, VITO NV, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
Debabrata Ghosh: SCK-CEN, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
Peter Van Mierloo: Orbix NV, Henry Fordlaan 84, 3600 Genk, Belgium
Hilde Carens: Colruyt Group, Edingensesteenweg 196, 1500 Halle, Belgium
Peter Nielsen: Sustainable Materials, Flemish Institute for Technological Research, VITO NV, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: Mineral carbonation provides a way to increase the recycling of concrete waste in added-value products, and contributes to the principles of the circular economy. At present, most concrete waste is still downcycled. The high water absorption of recycled concrete aggregates, among other factors, impedes their recycling in the concrete industry. The quality of coarse recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) can, however, be enhanced by carbonation. Even when starting with high-grade RCA obtained from a selective demolition process, the carbonation process can decrease the water absorption of the RCA to as low as 3.0%. Concrete with a 50% replacement rate of carbonated RCA can be produced without a significant compressive strength reduction. The research further shows that carbonation can be performed at atmospheric pressure and low CO 2 concentrations (e.g., 10%). The recycled concrete fines (RCF, 0–4 mm) in combination with 25% stainless steel slag were used to make zero-cement hollow blocks (39 × 19 × 9 cm) by carbonation curing without using any hydraulic binder. The hollow blocks have a compressive strength of 15.4 MPa at the lab scale. Both technologies were demonstrated on a pilot scale. In both processes, CO 2 is immobilized in the resulting construction product. The developed production processes use less primary raw materials and cause less greenhouse-gas emissions than the production of traditional concrete products.

Keywords: carbon-capture utilization and storage; carbonation; recycled concrete aggregate; recycled concrete fines; adhered cement mortar (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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