Environmental Impact and Life Cycle Assessment

Presented by

Prof. Ravindra Gettu

Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
 What are the Environmental Benefits
of Recycling Waste Concrete ?

• Construction and demolition (C&D) waste comprise more than a third of all
solid waste generated. Concrete comprises 20-35% of C&D waste in India.
• Avoided burdens, if waste is recycled
üLandfills – waste of land that could be put to better use, leaching
(contamination of groundwater), dust, disposal of hazardous waste along
with concrete.
üIllegal dumping – filling of roadsides, lowlands, storm water drains, swamps
and river-beds with debris
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 What Is Life Cycle Assessment?

• Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a technique that can be used to quantify the
environmental impacts of a product or service
• Life cycle studies can be performed for various scopes (systems):
o cradle to gate (raw materials until factory gate),
o gate to gate (only focusing on the manufacturing processes) or
o cradle to grave (raw materials until final disposal).

2
 Application of LCA of Cement and Concrete Systems
1. Goal and Scope of Study: To choose concrete
mixtures that have low environmental impact.

2. Life Cycle Inventory Analysis: Data collection from

cement, aggregate and concrete plants, and
calculation of inputs and outputs.

3. Life Cycle Impact Assessment: Choice of suitable

conversion factors; Significance of carbon
footprint and energy consumed

4. Life Cycle Interpretation: Comparison between

materials; Conclusions and recommendations. ISO 14040 (2006) and ISO 14044
3
(2006)
 Processes considered for Cements (OPC, PSC)

Ground-to-gate
Gate-to-gate
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 Impact Assessment (Ground-to-Gate) : Cement
CO2 Emissions

920
Clinker
910

670
600
560

Cement Clinker SCM

OPC, Ordinary portland 90-95% 5% fly ash, limestone

cement
PPC, Portland 70-75% 25-30% fly ash
pozzolona cement
PSC, Portland slag 40-50% 50-60% GGBS
cement
LC3 - Calcination energy: 2.6 MJ/kg of clay LC3, Limestone calcined 50% 30% calcined kaolinitic
clay cement clay, 15% limestone
5 (waste grade)
 Impact Assessment (Ground-to-Gate) : Cement
Energy Consumed
Clinker
5260

5900

4600 4750
4100

Cement Clinker SCM

OPC, Ordinary portland 90-95% 5% fly ash, limestone

cement
PPC, Portland pozzolona 70-75% 25-30% fly ash
cement
PSC, Portland slag 40-50% 50-60% GGBS
cement
LC3 - Calcination energy: 2.6 MJ/kg of clay LC3, Limestone calcined 50% 30% calcined kaolinitic
6 clay cement clay, 15% limestone
(waste grade)
 Life Cycle Assessment of Concrete
0.658 kg CO2 eq./ m3
11 MJ/kilo litre Water Ground-to-Gate
Typical process flow

1.38 m3/tonne

1.38 m3/tonne
Coal

of aggregate

of aggregate
1.67 m3/tonne
Limestone

of cement
0 kg CO2 eq./kg extraction

0 MJ/kg
Gypsum

10 kms
275 kms

0 kg CO2 eq./kg
Fly ash 0 MJ/kg
Cement Coarse
350 kms aggregates Sand
(Nandyal)

192 kms
64.54 kWh/tonne

75 kms
400 kms
Electricity
from thermal of PPC
plants

140 kg/m3 of concrete

310 kg of PPC /m3 of

0.00419 kg CO2 eq./kg

0.610 kg CO2/kg

0.00419 kg CO2

0.069 MJ/kg
2.83 MJ/kg

1232 kg /m3 of

eq./kg

0.069 MJ/kg
739 kg /m3 of
0.93 kg CO2
Grid

concrete

concrete
eq./kWh

concrete
8.83 MJ/kWh

28.53
kWh/m3
of concrete (Chennai)
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 Impact Assessment : Concretes with Different Binders

M30 M50 C-mixes M30 M50 C-mixes

Lower binder content leads to reduction in total emissions and energy consumed

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 Impact Assessment of Aggregate Production
Aggregate Crushing Unit
Kanchipuram

Systems Boundaries – Processes Considered

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 Impacts per tonne
of pristine
aggregates

Carbon Footprint Energy Consumed

• Inclusion of upstream processes like extraction of fuels, quarrying processes, aggregate plant
infrastructure greatly influence energy consumed

• Values are affected significantly by transportation

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 Case Studies of Waste Crushing Plants

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 Typical Process Flow Map
1. Centralized Recycling Facility: e.g. WeStart, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Avoided landfilling

Avoided extraction
of natural resources
Process flow Gate-to-Gate

12 Courtesy: Anusha S Basavaraj

 Typical Process Flow Map
Centralized
Recycling
Facilities IL&FS Surat Cdel, South Africa

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 Typical Process Flow Map
2. Mobile Crushers: e.g, L&T, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
breakers Water

20mm = 32.6%
10mm =28.5%
Chennai Metro 4.75mm = 11.9%
Construction site <4.75mm = 26.4% Mobile crusher

Avoided
transportation Advantages of mobile crushing units
• Reduced transportation distance (cost and impacts)
• Avoidance of gate fee to landfills/recycling facility
• Better handling of waste
• No uncertainties in raw material availability
Landfilling

Avoided landfilling
14 Courtesy: Anusha S Basavaraj
 Values for Different Plants: Stagewise Breakup
Emissions in terms of kg CO2/tonne Size Reduction
Size Reduction Loading into the Feeder
Loading into the Feeder Crushing and Sieving

7
Crushing and Sieving
Transportation 7 6.62
Transportation
6.18

CO2 Emissions (kgCO2/tonne)

6 6 5.41
5.22
CO2 Emissions (kgCO2/tonne)

4.92
5 4.57 5
4.34
4 3.76 4
3.33 3.44
3 3

2 2
0.99
1 0.81 1

0 0
Godrej WeStart IL&FS IL&FS L&T Cdel Godrej WeStart IL&FS IL&FS L&T Cdel
Burari Surat Burari Surat
Gate-To-Gate Ground-To-Gate

15
 Values for Different Plants: Stagewise Breakup
Embodied Energy in terms of MJ/tonne
Size Reduction
Size Reduction Loading into the Feeder
Loading into the Feeder
Crushing and Sieving Crushing and Sieving
120 Transportation Transportation

110
120 116.15

Energy Consumed (MJ/tonne)

100 101.87
Energy Consumed (MJ/tonne)

100 97.11
90
80
80
77.95 81.84
70
58.69
60
49.08 60
50 44.71
42.28
40
38.09
40
30
20
10.92 20
13.59
10
0 0
Godrej WesStart IL&FS IL&FS L&T Cdel Godrej WeStart IL&FS IL&FS L&T Cdel
Burari Surat Burari Surat
Gate-To-Gate Ground-To-Gate

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 Values for Crushing Stages of Different Plants
Emissions in terms of kg CO2/tonne

4.0 4.0
3.60
3.5 3.5 3.30
3.04
CO2 Emissions (kgCO2/tonne)

CO2 Emissions (kgCO2/tonne)

3.04
3.0 2.80 3.0

2.5 2.5
2.19
2.05 2.07
2.0 2.0

1.5 1.5

1.0 1.0
0.56
0.5
0.46 0.5
0.14 0.12
0.0 0.0
Godrej WeStart IL&FS IL&FS L&T Cdel Godrej WeStart IL&FS IL&FS L&T Cdel
Burari Surat Burari Surat
Gate-To-Gate Ground-To-Gate

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 Values for Crushing Stages of Different Plants
Embodied Energy in terms of MJ/tonne
50
50.41
45 50
46.06
42.90 43.60
Energy COnsumed (MJ/tonne)

Energy Consumed (MJ/tonne)

40

35 34.79 40

30
30
25
19.80 20.97
20 19.40
20
15

10
6.23 10 7.75
5 3.32 3.32
0 0
Godrej WesStart IL&FS IL&FS L&T Cdel Godrej WeStart IL&FS IL&FS L&T Cdel
Burari Surat Burari Surat
Gate-To-Gate Ground-To-Gate

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 Concluding Remarks

• Recycling of waste concrete leads to major benefits for the environment due to avoided
burden of landfilling, and associated problems

• The carbon footprint and energy demand for crushing waste concrete to produce
recycled concrete aggregates are lower or similar to those associated with the production
of pristine aggregates.

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 Thank you

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