Professional Documents
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56
recycled and secondary aggregate has been forecast (1). Indeed, there are countries where construction materials are
being increasingly judged by their ecological characteristics
and the proportion of recycled aggregate used in concrete
constructions at present is substantial (2). Concrete recycling
gains importance because it protects natural resources and
eliminates the need for disposal by using the readily available
concrete as an aggregate source for new concrete or other
applications.
Major part of C&D wastes originates from demolition of
old constructions. These include variety of solid materials
like excavated material, bricks, masonry, concrete, wood,
metals and plastic etc. New constructions also give rise to
wastes in smaller volumes; so are the leftover concrete from
ready mix concrete plants, precast concrete plants, and
shotcrete operations. Secondary aggregate, which originate
from recycling of demolition wastes of asphalt constructions
find use in the Roads sector. The present discussion focuses
on use of recycled concrete aggregate in new concrete constructions, which are obtained mainly from processing of
concrete rubbles. Status of standardisation and regulations
in different countries, which guide such uses of recycled
concrete aggregate, are reviewed. Recommendations for
Indian Standards are made.
Definitions
In the present discussion, the following definitions will
be adopted;
(a) RCA: Recycled concrete aggregate. (predominantly from
demolition waste concrete).
(b) RA: Recycled aggregate. (predominantly from demolition
waste including concrete, masonry and asphalt).
(c) LCAgg: Leftover concrete aggregate. (Aggregate processed from hardened leftover concrete of known composition that has not been in use and has not been contaminated in storage; typically from RMC plants, precast
concrete plants, rebound from shotcrete applications etc.).
Volume and Composition of C&D Wastes
In Germany, C&D wastes amount to nearly 61 percent of
MSW (1). In some Asian countries, the proportion goes up to
42 percent (2). Two Reports by Government agencies have
stated that C&D wastes in India amount to nearly one-third
of the total MSW (3, 4). On that basis, the amount of C&D
wastes can be estimated to be nearly 70 million tonnes per year,
CONCRETE RECYCLING
Composition
of C&D
Typical as
per TIFAC
MCD Survey,
2004
Survey 2005
by IL&FS
ECOSMART
Soil/Sand,
Gravel
36.0
43.0
31.5
Amount, per
year
Bitumen
2.0
Country
Year
Reference
Metals
5.0
0.4
Germany
223
2003
31.0
15.0
59.0
Australia
19
2008 - 09
Masonry /
Brick
China
200
2005
Concrete
23.0
35.0
Japan
85
2000
Wood
2.0
1.5
77
2012
South Korea
61.7
2013
Ireland
11
2004
Norway
1.5
2003
10
India
14.7
2001
6 (Quoting
MoEF)
10 12
2012
3,4
1.0
7.0
7.6
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
57
Others
CONCRETE RECYCLING
is characterised in specifications by its density and water absorption, among other characteristics (5).
Another property is alkali aggregate reactivity. Recycled
concrete aggregate, which have been sourced from a number of demolition concretes, is likely to be alkali-reactive. The
alkali content in the adherent mortar is also likely to contribute
to potential activity. Many specifications, therefore, suggest
tests for ASR activity to be carried out.
Recycled concrete aggregate, which have been sourced
from a number of demolition concretes, are likely to exhibit
greater variability than those sourced from one demolition
concrete, and would affect the uniformity of resultant concrete.
Influence of RCA on Properties of Concrete
58
60
CONCRETE RECYCLING
cessing was standardised as 500 revolutions, and were adopted in subsequent tests as reported hereinafter. After 500
revolutions, the specific gravity of processed aggregate was
2.62 and water absorption 1.47 percent. These are improvements over 2.60 and 4.16 percent respectively for unprocessed
RA. In large constructions, appropriate machinery will have
to be used (11) in place of LA test machine used in the present
investigation.
Similar was the effect on slump; 140 mm slump in control concrete decreased to 40 mm in case of 100 percent
unprocessed aggregate (zero revolutions), but gradually increased to 80 mm with the number of revolutions (Figure 4).
The trend in tests for other properties, reported in details
elsewhere (15) were similar, which improved with the number of revolutions during processing of RA. There was not much
improvement between 500 and 700 revolutions; as such pro-
Two-Stage Mixing
In normal mixing method (NMA), all the ingredients are
fed sequentially and mixed in one go. For further improvement
in the properties of concrete with recycled concrete aggregate, two-stage mixing has been advocated (15). In the twostage mixing method, all the materials including processed
recycled aggregate PRA (except virgin recycled aggregate)
were loaded in the pan mixer in the first stage, and then the
virgin coarse aggregate, which need not require any treatment,
was added in the second stage of mixing to complete the
process. In case processed recycled aggregate comprised
the full (100 percent), it was mixed in the second stage. The
total mixing time was 180 seconds in normal mixing (NMA)
and 300 seconds in two-stage mixing.
Concrete produced in twostage mixing showed better
strength and durability results than normal mixing approach
(NMA), because the PRA (500RVS) was completely repaired
in the second stage mixing by filling up the old cracks, pores,
voids, cavities, gaps and fissures etc. By using two-stage
mixing approaches, the replacement level of virgin coarse
aggregate with PRA up to 60 percent is suggested for higher
grades of concrete more than 75 MPa (15).
Even with 100% replacement of virgin coarse aggregate
with PRA, the strength up to 70 MPa can be achieved. The
durability characteristics, especially drying shrinkage, abrasion resistance, chloride ion penetration, and creep, which
was not investigated, need careful consideration in high
strength concrete applications (15).
Use of Fine Fractions as Sand Replacement
The concrete rubble has to be properly processed, including scrubbing to remove the adhered hydrated cement
as much as possible (14). The fine fractions obtained during
such processing has to be made use of. Some countries like
Norway, South Korea, and Japan etc. allow use of recycled
fine aggregate in new concrete constructions (11). Use of fin-
CONCRETE RECYCLING
er fractions (< 4.75 mm) of recycled concrete as part replacement of fine aggregate from natural sources was investigated (16). The results have been published recently; as such, only
salient findings are reported here. The final < 4.75mm fraction
obtained was brought into grading zone II confirming to IS
383-1970, by suitably mixing.
Properties of fine aggregate from natural sources and
recycled concrete are shown in Table 3. The quality of recycled aggregate is judged in terms of materials content, density and water absorption (11). In many specifications, the limits
of specific gravity (minimum) and water absorption (maximum)
are 2.2 and 5 percent (South Korea) or 2.2 and 7 percent (Japan) respectively. If similar specifications are adopted in India, the present sample of recycled fine aggregate will satisfy
the same.
Material
Water Absorption
Natural Sand
0.21
2.6
Recycled Aggregate
6.2
2.41
S. No.
Specific
Gravity
Figure 8: Variation in Split Tensile Strength with Replacement of Sand M40 Grade
Incorporation in Specifications
61
CONCRETE RECYCLING
62
Type I
Type II
Mineral content
>99 %
Concrete or rock
Concrete, rock, masonry or brick
>95 %
Non-mineral content
(as wood, paper, metals, insulation
materials, plastics, rubber, plant
remnants) and glass
<5 %
<1 %
Oven-dried, g/cm3
>1500
>2000
>1800
>2100
Water Absorption, %
<20
<10
Density
Type I
Type II
Type I + II
5%
10 %
5%
C25, mild
10 %
30 %
10 %
C55, moderate
20 %
Fine Aggregate
C25, mild
Coarse Aggregate
CONCRETE RECYCLING
Country / Organisation
United Kingdom
64
Australia
USA
RILEM
Korea
Germany
Portugal
Hong Kong
Aggregate
Gentre
RCA
RCA
LCAgg
LCAgg
Maximum RCA
Substitution (a)
Maximum Recycled
Aggregate Concrete
28 Day Cylinder
Strength
NR
40 Mpa
20%
Designated concrete
20 to 40 Mpa
NR
NR
16 MPa
RA
RA
Class 1A
RCA
30%
40 MPa
Class 1B
RCA
100%
25 MPa
100%(b)
20 MPa
LCA
LCAgg
25%
50 MPa
60%(c)
NS Concrete
RCAC Type I
RA
100%
16 MPa
RCAC Type II
RCA
100%
50 MPa
RCA
20%
NR
RCA
30%
27 MPa
RCA
30%(c)
21 MPa
35%
25 MPa
25%
30 MPa
25%
35 MPa
20%
40 MPa
Type 1
Type 2
ARB1
ARB2
-
RCA
RCA
RCA
20%
<35 MPa
100%
20 MPa NS Concrete
Other Restrictions
RCA and LCAgg.
No chloride exposure No freeze
thaw
Masonry Aggregate. Ex
In dry or low
humidity environments
-
CONCRETE RECYCLING
Properties
RA-H
RA-M
RA-L
Coarse
Fine
Coarse
Fine
Coarse
Fine
>2.5
>2.5
>2.3
>2.2
Water absorption, %
<3.0
<3.5
<5.0
<7.0
<7.0
<13.0
<1.0
<7.0
<1.5
<7.0
<2.0
<10.0
Scope of application
South Korea
Korean Standard KS F 2573 allows the use of recycled
aggregate recovered from demolished concrete. The requirements for recycled aggregate are as under (8);
Coarse aggregate - oven-dry density > 2.5 g/cm3, water
absorption <3 percent.
Fine aggregate oven-dry density > 2.2 g/cm3, water absorption <5.0 percent.
Permitted grades of concrete using RCA are as under;
Strength class of 27 MPa and under up to 30 percent
replacement of only coarse aggregate.
Strength class of 21 MPa and under up to 30 percent
replacement of coarse aggregate and fine aggregate.
Japan
Standardisation of recycled aggregate in Japan has progressed in stages. In 1977, Building Contractors Society set
up guidelines in terms of oven-dry density and water absorption of recycled aggregate. For coarse aggregate, the limiting values were > 2.2 g/cm3 and 7 percent respectively; for fine
aggregate, the limits were > 2.0 g/cm3 and < 13 percent (7).
Subsequent revisions followed intensive research activities by many agencies and improvements in techniques of
recycling, leading to formulation of three classes of recycled
aggregate in 2007 by Japan Industrial Standards Committee.
The details are given in Table7 (7).
Recommendations for BIS Specifications in India
65
References