Journal of Building Engineering 68 (2023) 106071

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Building Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jobe

Assessment of the engineering properties and economic advantage

of recycled aggregate concrete developed from waste clay bricks
and coconut shells
Haibao Liu a, *, Qiuyi Li b, Peihan Wang b
a
College of Civil Engineering, Qingdao University of Technology, Shandong, Qingdao, 266033, China
b
College of Civil Engineering & Architecture, Qingdao Agricultural University, Shandong, Qingdao, 266109, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Using recycled aggregates to replace natural aggregates in concrete helps preserve nonrenewable
Coconut shells resources, promotes recycling, and affords reductions in cost. To this end, experiments were
Waste clay bricks performed to clarify the effects of coarse aggregate systems developed using crushed coconut shell
Mechanical properties aggregate (CCSA) and recycled brick aggregate (RBA) on the mechanical properties, thermal
Thermal conductivity conductivity, ultrasonic pulse velocity and high temperature resistance of concrete. The results
High temperature resistance
showed that the incorporation of CCSA improved the thermal conductivity, flexural strength and
Economic evaluation
cost ratio of concrete. The mechanical properties of the recycled aggregate concrete also satisfied
the requirements of structural lightweight aggregate concrete. In addition, low-rigidity concrete
developed using RBA and CCSA imparted the building with a higher strain capacity, suitable for
applications in seismic regions. However, under high-temperature environments, the properties of
the concrete deteriorated significantly with the incorporation of CCSA; the compressive strength
and other properties were also reduced considerably.

1. Introduction
With progressive urbanization, infrastructure and housing projects continue to be developed to meet the various needs of people [1,
2]. The construction of concrete buildings, the most widely used form of construction in such projects, consumed more than 20 billion
tons of mineral aggregates worldwide in 2020 [3]. Generally speaking, aggregate accounts for more than 70% of concrete by volume.
Mining and processing mineral aggregates consume a large amount of energy and increase the amount of natural sand, gravel, and
other nonrenewable materials, thereby negatively affecting the natural environment. Thus, reducing the excessive use of natural sand
and gravel aggregates in concrete production is necessary to achieve sustainability in the construction industry. Accordingly, as
substitutes for natural aggregates, researchers have used industrial and agricultural wastes to develop new types of recycled aggregates
for construction [4–7], significantly reducing the environmental burden caused by natural sand and gravel mining.
Brick masonry structures have been used in China for over 2000 years [8,9]. Since the 1980s, brick masonry structures have been
gradually replaced by reinforced concrete structures with the progress of urbanization. Disposing the waste bricks resulting from
demolition is an essential issue in the construction industry. Accordingly, researchers have attempted to produce recycled aggregates
using waste bricks to replace mineral aggregates [10–13]. Bektas [14] found that the original strength of bricks is closely related to the
mechanical strength of recycled brick aggregate (RBA) concrete. Specifically, the original strength of the bricks showed a positive

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (H. Liu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2023.106071
Received 11 December 2022; Received in revised form 23 January 2023; Accepted 6 February 2023
Available online 10 February 2023
2352-7102/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Liu et al. Journal of Building Engineering 68 (2023) 106071

correlation with the mechanical strength of concrete with recycled brick aggregates at a certain dosage. Debieb et al. [15] tested the 90
d mechanical strength and other indices of concrete prepared using recycled brick coarse aggregate and recycled brick fine aggregate.
The results indicated that the decrease in the compressive strength was insignificant when the fine and coarse aggregates of recycled
bricks were mixed at 50% and 25%, respectively. Zhu et al. [16] used brick aggregate as a coarse aggregate to construct buildings with
low strength levels, effectively reducing the cost of concrete construction and the energy consumption in processing, as compared with
those for mineral aggregates. Furthermore, Uddin et al. [17] concluded that the maximum particle size of RBA significantly affects the
properties of concrete. In addition, the splitting tensile strength is negatively affected when the average particle size of the aggregate
exceeds a certain limit. Chen et al. [18] reported that the absorbed water of brick aggregates indicates an “internal curing effect” inside
the hardened brick aggregate concrete, which significantly improves the properties of the concrete. Zhang et al. [19] found that an
appropriate polypropylene fiber content can effectively reduce the performance loss of concrete caused by adding RBAs, particularly
the splitting tensile strength of concrete. This shows that appropriate improvement methods can offset the negative impact of brick
aggregates on concrete performance, thereby preserving the possibility of employing brick aggregates in structural concrete.
Unlike mineral aggregates, using agricultural by-products as the aggregates in concrete entails certain disadvantages, these include
high water absorption and poor volume stability [20], which seriously reduces the possibility of biomass by-products produced by
agriculture and forestry being used in concrete. Compared with other by-products, coconut shell is one of the most potential alter­
natives to natural aggregates for making structural concrete due to the good volume stability [21,22]. According to relevant statistics,
more than 9 million tons of coconut shells are produced each year after processing by food factories [20]. Coconut shells are valuable
by-products of coconut food processing that have not been explored for other uses. Further, the random stacking of coconut shells
produced annually occupies a large amount of cultivated land and increases the fire risk. Therefore, efforts were devoted toward
developing recycled aggregates for concrete applications using coconut shells. Using coconut shells as the coarse aggregate to create
biomass-aggregate geopolymer concrete can significantly reduce the cost of concrete and carbon dioxide emissions in concrete pro­
duction, thus providing environmental and economic benefits [23]. In a previous experiment, Mathew et al. [24] used coconut shell
aggregates at substitution rates of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% by volume to prepare concrete and found that adding coconut shell
aggregates effectively improved the thermal insulation of the concrete, but also significantly deteriorates the mechanical properties of
concrete. Kanojia et al. [25] showed that the compressive strengths of concrete mixed with coconut shells at curing age of 7 days and
28 days decreased by 62% and 21%, respectively, at a replacement ratio of 40% for the coconut shell aggregate. Another previous work
[26] used coconut shells to replace the natural aggregate, with ratios of 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, for preparing concrete; it was
found that lightweight concrete with a density less than 2000 kg/m3 can be prepared using the appropriate content. Gunasekaran et al.
[27] used coconut shells instead of gravels as the coarse aggregates in the fabrication of reinforced concrete beams and found that the
flexural strength was comparable with that of concrete prepared with other lightweight aggregates. However, the size of the failure
zone of the coconut shell aggregate concrete beams was significantly larger than that of concrete beams prepared with natural
aggregate, with a maximum crack width of 0.26 mm. Ni et al. [28] found that the high water absorption property of coconut shell is one
of the important reasons that hinder its application as an alternative to mineral aggregates in concrete. In addition, In addition, the
wrapping method can reduce the deterioration of the mechanical properties, shrinkage properties, and durability of concrete due to the
high water absorption of coconut shell aggregates. The produced biomass recycled aggregates using the wrapping method to treat
coconut shells and effectively improved the mechanical properties and shrinkage of biomass aggregate concrete prepared with coconut
shell. In addition, this wrapping method could effectively improve the interface transition zone (ITZ) micromorphology and reduce its
thickness, thereby effectively improving the engineering properties of coconut shell concrete. Shraddha et al. [29] found that the
carbon emissions during the production of aggregates can be reduced by more than 9% when the replacement ratio of coconut shell
aggregates exceeds 50%, which means that coconut shell aggregates exhibit exciting carbon reduction potential. However, it fails to
meet the mechanical strength and other important requirements of structural concrete [30,31], Therefore, how to improve the
properties of coconut shell aggregate to make it meet the requirements of concrete structures is the key factor to solve the application of
coconut shell in concrete.
The use of RBA instead of natural aggregate lead to insufficient ductility of concrete buildings, which makes these buildings prone
to brittle failure; Alternatively, crushed coconut shell aggregate (CCSA) seriously deteriorates the mechanical strength and durability
of concrete due to its poor volume stability. To address these issues, the purpose of this study is to determine the suitable mixing
methods of RBA and CCSA for concrete. Accordingly, recycled aggregate concrete was developed using RBA and CCSA, and its
workability, ultrasonic pulse velocity, mechanical properties, thermal conductivity, high temperature resistance performance, and
microstructure were evaluated. Furthermore, tentative explorations were conducted, such as optimizing the concrete mixing methods
and improve the properties of the RBA were conducted.

Table 1
Chemical composition of cement/wt%.

CaO SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 SO3 MgO TiO2 Others

60.8 21.1 7.2 4.1 2.5 1.85 0.5 1.95

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2. Experimental program
2.1. Materials
2.1.1. Cementitious materials
Ordinary Portland cement with a strength class of 42.5 MPa was used as the binding material for the concrete in the test, the main
chemical composition is shown in Table 1.

2.1.2. Crushed coconut shell aggregate

Coconut shells were collected from a coconut tree plantation in Guangdong, China. After crushing them using a pulverizer, a large
amount of fibers and biomass residues were interspersed in the CCSA. Directly mixing the CCSA into the concrete as an aggregate
would negatively affect the properties of the concrete. Therefore, during the experiment, CCSA was treated with crushing, soaking,
secondary crushing and sieving to effectively remove the residue, as shown in Fig. 1. The soaking treatment loosened or caused the
fiber layer attached to the surface of the CCSA to fall off. This process required 14 d for completion. The secondary crushing treatment
removed the fiber layer and angles on the surface of the CCSA, effectively improving the CCSA properties. Fig. 2 shows the treated
coconut shell aggregates. Fig. 5 shows the particle size distribution of the crushed coconut shells, in accordance with the Chinese
national standard GB/T14685. Table 2 lists the physical properties of the CCSA, including the specific density (see Table 3).

2.1.3. Recycled brick aggregate

Waste clay bricks with an original strength of MU20 (compressive strength of 20 MPa) were collected from a brick masonry
building in an abandoned factory in Guangdong Province, China. The waste clay bricks were first crushed using a jaw crusher, and the
crushed bricks were then sieved, as shown in Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 5, the particle size distribution of RBA after sieving meets the
requirements of GBT 14685 on aggregate particle size.
Compared with natural mineral aggregate, the RBA suffers from disadvantages such as poor compactness and a high crushing
index, caused by its porous characteristics. Therefore, in this study, a cement slurry with a water–cement ratio of 0.7 was used to wrap
the RBA (WRBA) in order to improve its compactness, as shown in Fig. 4. Notably, treatment with the wrapping method can effectively
fill the surface pores of the RBA and reduce water absorption, as shown in Table 5.

2.2. Mix proportions

RBA, WRBA, and CCSA, developed using the waste bricks and coconut shells, were used in the experiment to prepare recycled
concrete. Table 2 lists the physical properties of the raw materials used for the concrete. The details of the concrete mix proportions in
the experiment are shown in Table 4. The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effect of coarse aggregates including CCSA,
RBA and WRBA on the fresh and hardened properties of concrete.

2.3. Concrete mixing method

The concrete mixing methods used in this study are denoted as mixing method-I and mixing method-II; these are described as
follows:

Fig. 1. Processing methods and processes of CCSA.

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Fig. 2. CCSA with particle sizes of (a) 4–8 mm (b) 8–12 mm and (c) 12–16 mm.

Table 2
properties of fine aggregate and coarse aggregates.

Aggregate type Water absorption (%) Specific density Crushing value (%)

10min 30min 3h 24 h

Fine aggregate – – – – 2.55 –

RBA 6.2 7.7 7.9 8.1 1.71 22.6
WRBA 2.7 3.2 3.4 3.7 1.81 15.7
CCSA 6.8 7.6 8.3 8.9 1.25 2.6

Note: The water-to-binder ratio of the cement slurry for the wrapping test was 0.7. The production of one cubic meter of WRB consumed 130 kg of cement slurry and
approximately 54 kg of cement.

Table 3
Mix proportions of concretes mixed with different proportions of coarse aggregates.

Sample Mix proportions (kg/m3)

Coarse aggregate Sand Cement Mixing water Superplasticizer

RB WRB CCS

RB100CCS0 842.5 – 0 663 400 160 4

RB75CCS25 631.3 – 154.2
RB50CCS50 421.2 – 308.4
RB25CCS75 211 – 462.7
CCS100 0 – 616.9
WRB100CCS0 – 853.1 0
WRB75CCS25 – 639.8 154.2
WRB50CCS50 – 426.5 308.4
WRB25CCS75 – 213.3 462.7

Note: 1. During the concrete mixing process, the coarse aggregate is added after the saturated water absorption treatment. The weight of the coarse aggregate includes
the weight of the absorbed water.
2. Considering RB75CCS25 as an example, RB and CCS represent RBA and CCSA, respectively, and 75 and 25 denote the volume mixing ratios of RBA and CCSA (i.e.,
75% and 25%), respectively.
3. The type of superplasticizer is polyacid superplasticizer, and the water reducing rate is 30%.

Fig. 3. RBA with particle sizes of (a) 4–8 mm (b) 8–12 mm and (c) 12–16 mm.

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Fig. 4. (a) RBA treated by wrapping method and (b) samples of WRBA.

Fig. 5. Particle size distribution curve of coarse aggregates.

Table 4
Prices of raw materials for concrete (USD/ton).

Cement Fine aggregate NA CCSA RBA WRBA Superplasticizer Mixing water

Cost 105.1 13.5 13.5 3 2.3 7.9 150.2 0.5

Note: The water-to-cement ratio of the cement slurry for wrapping test is 0.7, and the production of one cubic meter of WRBA consumes 130 kg of cement slurry and
about 54 kg of cement.

Table 5
Calculation of concrete cost (USD/m3).

Item Cement Fine aggregate Coarse aggregate Superplasticizer Mixing water Total

NA100 42 9 16.3 0.6 0.1 68

RB100CCS0 1.8 53.5
RB75CCS25 1.7 53.4
RB50CCS50 1.7 53.4
RB25CCS75 1.7 53.4
CCS100 1.7 53.4
WRB100CCS0 4.4 56.1
WRB75CCS25 3.6 55.3
WRB50CCS50 3 54.7
WRB25CCS75 2.3 54

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Mixing method-I: The concrete raw material components were added to a mixer for 60 s; thereafter, the concrete was continuously
mixed for 90 s, after standing for 30 s.
Mixing method-II: The raw material part of the solid component and 70% of the mixing water were added into the mixer for mixing
over a duration of 60 s. Subsequently, the remaining 30% of the mixing water was added and continuously mixed for 180 s, after
standing for 180 s.

2.4. Testing methods

2.4.1. Mechanical properties
According to the Chinese national standard GBT 50081, fresh concrete was poured into concrete molds with dimensions of 100 ×
100 × 100 mm (for concrete compressive strength) and 100 × 100 × 400 mm (for concrete flexural strength). After complete
hardening, the concrete specimens were demolded and transferred to a curing environment at a temperature of 20 ◦ C and air humidity
of not less than 95% until the test age was reached. The compressive strength and flexural strength were tested at 3 and 28 days of age,
respectively.

2.4.2. Ultrasonic pulse velocity

Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) is an effective metric for detecting several properties of concrete, which can effectively identify the
location and degree of deterioration of defects such as cracks and pores in concrete. The compactness of concrete can also be quali­
tatively analyzed by testing certain physical properties. Accordingly, in this study, an UPV tester was used to test the 100 mm × 100
mm × 100 mm concrete specimens.

2.4.3. Thermal conductivity

The heat flow density of a 35 mm thick square plate sample with 300 mm sides was measured with a heat flow densitometer (DRCD-
3030; Wansu), and the heat flow density values were converted to concrete thermal conductivity using the following conversion
relationship:
δΔQ
λ= (1)
ΔtS

Where, δ is the thickness of specimen (m); ΔQ is the heat flow through the flat plate (W); Δt is the temperature difference between the
two sides of the specimen, (K); S is the area of concrete specimen (m2); λ is thermal conductivity.

2.4.4. High temperature resistance test

A muffle furnace with a maximum heating temperature of 1200 ◦ C was used to test the high temperature resistance of the concrete.
Concrete specimens with a 28 curing-days were heated to the maximum heating temperature in a muffle furnace at a heating rate of
20 ◦ C/min; this temperature was maintained for 120 min, and the specimens were then cooled to 20 ◦ C with a cooling rate of 4 ◦ C/min.
The maximum heating temperatures in the test were set to 200 ◦ C, 400 ◦ C, and 600 ◦ C. The heating and cooling processes is shown in
Fig. 6.

2.4.5. Microstructure
After the concrete sample is cured to a specific curing age, the part containing the aggregate and the concrete matrix is made into a
swept electron microscope sample with a width of not more than 1 cm and a thickness of not more than 0.5 cm. To ensure the clarity of
the SEM photographs, the samples were gold sprayed before the start of the SEM experiment.

Fig. 6. Heating patterns of high temperature test.

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3. Results and discussion

3.1. Workability
The slump of concrete for different coarse aggregate admixture ratios is shown in Fig. 7. The slump of concrete gradually decreased
with the increase of CCSA content. The CCSA was mostly in the form of strips and flakes; thus, it featured a larger specific surface area
than the RBA with the same volume. At the same time, the angularity of the coconut shell particles at the fracture negatively affected
the workability of the concrete. In addition, the different mixing methods significantly affected the workability of the concrete when
the same volume of mixing water was added. Under mixing method-II, the static stopping process after adding 70% of the effective
mixing water caused the precipitation of some of the adsorbed water from the brick and coconut shell aggregates, effectively improving
the concrete workability. Compared with mixing method-I, mixing method-II effectively improved the workability of recycled
aggregate concrete and did not cause a deterioration in the other properties of the fresh concrete. Therefore, mixing method-II was
used to investigate the wet density and hardened properties of the concrete.

3.2. Density
The wet density of concrete gradually decreased with an increase in the CCSA admixture, as shown in Fig. 8(a). The wet density of
WRB100CCS0 was only 2080 kg/m3, which is comparable to that of RB100CCS0 (2070 kg/m3). The hardened cement paste wrapped
on the surface of the WRB increased its density. In addition, the wrapping treatment also reduced the connected pores on the surface of
the brick aggregate, thereby reducing its water absorption.
Fig. 8(b) shows the dry density values of concrete at the curing age of 28 days. Compared with the dry density of 1906 kg/m3 for
RBA concrete (RB100CCS0), the dry density of the concrete with 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of CCSA (by volume) were 1857 kg/m3,
1802 kg/m3, 1746 kg/m3 and 1689 kg/m3, respectively. According to Refs. [32,33], the dry density of lightweight concrete (LWC) is
generally lower than 2000 kg/m3. In this study, the densities of all aggregate concretes prepared with RBA, WRBA, and CCSA met the
requirements. Thus, RBA with coconut shells can be used to prepare an LWC with a dry density of less than 2000 kg/m3, an advantage
that cannot be obtained with natural mineral aggregate concrete.

3.3. Ultrasonic pulse velocity

The ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) reflects the degree of compactness of concrete to a certain extent. The density difference among
concrete components may cause low-density components (such as the CCSA) to float up in fresh concrete during pouring and vibrating,
resulting in the delamination of concrete. This phenomenon has been reported by research on lightweight aggregate concrete [32,34].
The UPV of the concrete exhibited a good linear relationship with the dry density of concrete, as shown in Fig. 9. This indicates that
there was no delamination caused by the density of the concrete components. The section of the specimens in Fig. 9 verifies this
conclusion. Compared with the UPV of 3.69 km/s for RB100CCS0, the UPV values for RB75CCS25, RB50CCS50, RB25CCS75, and
CCS100 decreased by 2.5%, 4.9%, 8.1%, and 11.9%, respectively. Thus, the addition of CCSA can effectively reduce the propagation
velocity of ultrasonic waves in concrete, which may be related to the structural characteristics of the coconut shells and the increase in
the pores in concrete.

3.4. Mechanical strength

3.4.1. Compressive strength
The compressive strength values of the concrete at different curing ages are shown in Fig. 10(a) and (b), the results showed that the
compressive strengths of RB100CCS0 and WRB100CCS0 were 28.2 MPa and 31.5 MPa, at curing age of 28 days, which were 45.4% and
62.4% higher than that of CCS100, respectively. Studies by Refs. [35–37] have shown that the properties of the “interfacial transition
zone” (ITZ) one of the most important factors affecting the properties of concrete. Incorporating a large amount of the CCSA increases
the number of ITZs inside the concrete. The adsorbed water of the CCSA then gradually diffuses into the voids around the ITZs once the
concrete has hardened; this deteriorates the concrete properties, further aggravating the strength loss caused by the ITZs. In addition,

Fig. 7. Slump value of concrete under different mixing methods: (a) mixing method I and (b) mixing method II.

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Fig. 8. (a) Wet density and (b) dry density.

Fig. 9. Relationship between UPV and dry density.

compared with the RBA, the WRBA can effectively improve the compressive strength of concrete. The hardened cement paste wrapped
around its surface can effectively fill the connecting pores to improve the compactness of the ITZ around the brick aggregate, thus
reducing the probability of RBA failure due to compressive damage. The failure modes of the concrete under compression differed with
respect to the curing ages, as shown in Fig. 10 (c) and (d). At the curing age of 3 days, the compression failure of concrete is mainly
caused by the crushing of brick aggregate. At the age of 28 days, the compression failure of concrete was more likely to be caused by the
damage of the brick aggregate and coconut shell aggregate, which may be related to the gradual increase in the strength of the
cementitious matrix [34].
In addition, according to the study of Nadesan [38], the minimum compressive strength of structural LWC under curing age of 28
days is 17.0 MPa. Hence, the recycled aggregate concrete prepared in this study, including CCS100, meet the compressive strength
requirements of LWC for structures, as shown in Fig. 10 (a) and (b).

3.4.2. Flexural strength

The CCSA can effectively improve the flexural strength of concrete, with an optimal amount of approximately 25% (RB25CCS75
and WRB25CCS75), as shown in Fig. 11(a). Particles with sizes greater than 10 mm in the CCSA exhibited an apparent flake structure,
as shown in Fig. 11(b). In the flexural strength test on the concrete, the flaky coconut shell particles distributed perpendicular to the
direction of force could effectively retard the brittle damage of the flexural concrete specimens (Fig. 11(c)), thus improving the flexural
performance of the concrete. However, with an increase in the coconut shell aggregate admixture, this improvement effect was
insufficient to offset the deterioration caused by the ITZs of the CCSA, resulting in a gradual decrease in the flexural strength of the
concrete.

3.5. Modulus of elasticity

The stress-strain diagrams of the concrete are shown in Fig. 12. Generally, the modulus of elasticity (Ec) of concrete is determined
based on the linear partition of its stress–strain diagram. Under a certain stress, the concrete with CCSA featured higher strain values
owing to the difference in the modulus of elasticity between the RBA (WRBA) and CCSA. The modulus of elasticity of the concrete with
the CCSA and RBA varied from 13.84 GPa to 20.52 GPa, as shown in Fig. 13. Furthermore, the modulus of elasticity of the concrete
with the WRBA and CCSA varied from 13.84 GPa to 23.24 GPa. In general, the modulus of elasticity of LWC can reach 60–70% that of

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Fig. 10. Compressive strength of (a) 3 days and (b) 28 days. Concrete specimens at (c) 3 days and (d) 28 days failed due to compression.

Fig. 11. (a) Flexural strength of concrete at 28 days, (b) schematic of flexural test on RB50CCS50, and (c) failure mode of CCSA with lengths exceeding 10 mm.

concrete with natural mineral aggregates [39]. The decrease in the modulus of elasticity of the concrete mixed with CCSA was closely
related to the material characteristics of the coconut shell and the properties of its ITZ, similar to the change law of compressive
strength, as discussed in Section 3.4.
In conclusion, the low-stiffness concrete structure produced by the RBA (WRBA) and CCSA would impart buildings with a higher
strain capacity, rendering this series of concrete more suitable for applications in earthquake-prone areas.

3.6. Thermal conductivity

Relevant studies have shown that buildings account for more than 40% of the global energy use and that the energy consumption
during operation accounts for more than 50% of the energy use over a building’s life cycle [40]. In the case of concrete structure, it is
necessary to ensure structural safety and account for the energy efficiency of buildings. The energy efficiency of buildings contributes

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Fig. 12. Stress–strain diagram of concretes.

Fig. 13. The modulus of elasticity of concretes.

significantly toward carbon peaking and carbon emission reduction. As shown in Fig. 14, compared with RB100CCS0, the thermal
conductivity of WRB100CCS0 was only 0.46 W/m⋅K, representing a decrease of 13.2%. A comparable number of open holes on the
surface of the RBA as the concrete hardened. By contrast, in the WRBA prepared by wrapping, the open holes on the surface of the brick
aggregate were converted into closed pores, thus preventing water intrusion. These closed holes were filled with air and caused a
reduction in the thermal conductivity of the WRBC. Furthermore, adding the coconut shell aggregate further reduced the thermal
conductivity of the concrete. This trend became more apparent with an increase in the coconut shell aggregate owing to the porous
structure of the coconut shell.
Under the same coarse aggregate content, the thermal conductivity of NAC is generally above 1.5 W/m⋅K [34]. Compared with

Fig. 14. Thermal conductivity values of concrete.

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NAC, the thermal conductivity of the concrete prepared with RBA and CCSA decreased significantly, indicating a potential for energy
savings in buildings.

3.7. High temperature resistance

The residual compressive strength of concrete specimens after exposure to high temperatures is shown in Fig. 15. In general, when
exposed to high temperatures for a certain time, the compressive strength of concrete decreases steeply with the increase in tem­
perature, which may be due to the thermal decomposition of cement hydration products and the cracking of concrete at high tem­
peratures [41,42]. For the concrete mixed with CCSA, this compressive strength loss may be attributed to the charring of the coconut
shell aggregate due to the high temperatures. Minimal charring of the CCSA on the surface of the concrete specimens was observed at
temperatures up to 200 ◦ C, as shown in Fig. 16. However, when the temperature reached 400 ◦ C (Fig. 16(c)), multiple temperature
cracks were observed on the concrete specimens, which indicated more serious charring of coconut shells due to high temperatures. In
addition, the thermal decomposition of hydration products of cementitious materials such as calcium hydroxide also aggravates the
development of concrete cracks [43–45]. The charring also increased the width of the ITZ, which, in turn, exacerbated the failure of the
concrete specimens under compressive damage. This conclusion was confirmed based on the failure mode of the coconut shell
aggregate concrete with compressive damage, as shown in Fig. 16(c).

3.8. Microstructure
The hydration products of the cementitious material and microscopic morphology around the aggregates were analyzed via
scanning electron microscopy (SEM). As shown in Fig. 17, the microstructure around the CCSA particles was loose and exhibited a
large number of derived cracks. In addition, the width between cementitious matrix and aggregate exceeds 25 μm, and even reaches 37
μm, which is much larger than that in natural mineral aggregate concrete [32,34]. After the fresh concrete hardens, the adsorbed water
in CCSA dissipates around the interface transition zone, promoting the growth of derived cracks (Fig. 17 (b)), which deteriorates the
properties of concrete including mechanical properties. Moreover, the cementitious matrix near the RBA (WRBA) was more compact
than that of the brick aggregate matrix, as shown in Fig. 17 (d). The rough and porous characteristics of the brick aggregate caused the
cement paste in the fresh concrete to effectively bond with the brick aggregate after the concrete hardened, and forms a mechanical
bite with the brick aggregate surface. In addition, the “internal curing effect” [46–48] caused by the adsorbed water in the brick
aggregate effectively improved the microscopic morphology around the ITZ of the RBA (WRBA), which further improves the per­
formance of the RBA concrete.

3.9. Economic evaluation

The prices of the raw materials used to prepare concrete were determined considering Guangdong Province, China, in May 2022
(Table 4). Combined with the concrete mix proportions, the cost of concrete per unit volume was calculated, as shown in Table 5.
Compared with that of NAC [34], the cost of the concrete mixed with RBA, WRBA, and CCSA as the coarse aggregates was significantly
lower, as shown in Fig. 18 (a). Notably, the maximum reduction was 21% (RB100CCS0), indicating the considerable cost benefits of
recycled aggregate concrete.
Fig. 18 (b) shows the compressive strength-cost efficiency of concrete at curing age of 28 days. The addition of the CCSA reduced
the compressive strength–cost efficiency of the concrete. This trend was positively correlated with the amount of CCSA added. In
addition, compared with the RBA, the addition of the WRBA (i.e., treated with the wrapping method) can effectively improve the
compressive strength–cost efficiency. The strength–cost efficiency of WRB100CCS0 reached 0.567 MPa/USD⋅m− 3, which is better than
that of RB100CCS0 (0.527 MPa/USD⋅m− 3) and comparable with NAC (0.629 MPa/USD⋅m− 3). This indicates that the recycled
aggregate concrete prepared with CCSA RBA and WRBA has a significant cost advantage compared with NAC. Furthermore, a high
content of the CCSA caused a decrease in the compressive strength–cost efficiency of concrete, thereby offsetting the cost advantage of

Fig. 15. Residual compressive strength of concrete after exposure to elevated temperatures.

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Fig. 16. Cracks on the surface of specimens after heating to (a) 200 ◦ C and (b) 400 ◦ C (c) Failure mode of CCS100 specimen at 400 ◦ C.

Fig. 17. Microstructure of concrete mixed with different coarse aggregates.

the recycled aggregate.

4. Conclusions
In this study, recycled aggregate concrete was developed using the CCSA, RBA, and WRBA produced from waste clay bricks and
coconut shells. The effects of the type and proportion of coarse aggregates on the properties, mechanical properties, thermal pro­
ductivity, high temperature resistance and economy of concrete were evaluated. The conclusions of this study are shown as follows:
1. The dry density of the recycled aggregate concrete developed using the RBA and coconut shell aggregate was less than 2000 kg/m3,
thereby satisfying the requirements of LWC. In addition, the UPV of the recycled aggregate concrete showed a good linear cor­
relation with its dry density, indicating that the recycled aggregate was uniformly distributed in the concrete and did not cause
stratification owing to the density difference among the concrete components.

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H. Liu et al. Journal of Building Engineering 68 (2023) 106071

Fig.18. (a) Cost ratio of concretes(b)Compressive strength - cost efficiency.

2. The incorporation of the CCSA effectively improved the flexural strength of the concrete and increased the structural ductility of
concrete buildings, while reducing the probability of brittle damage in concrete buildings. In addition, the low-stiffness concrete
structure developed using the brick aggregate with CCSA imparted a higher strain capacity to the building.
3. Compared with mineral aggregate concrete, the recycled aggregate concrete prepared using the CCSA, RBA, and WRBA showed a
significant reduction in terms of the thermal conductivity and exhibited the potential for realizing energy efficiency in buildings.
Moreover, the CCSA exhibited better thermal insulation performance than the RBA and WRBA, under the same volume.
4. Compared with the RBA and WRBA, the incorporation of the CCSA resulted in a significant deterioration in the high temperature
resistance of the concrete. The degree of this deterioration was positively correlated with the content of CCSA. Compared with the
control group (at room temperature of 20 ◦ C), the compressive strength of CCS100 at elevated temperatures of 200 ◦ C, 400 ◦ C, and
600 ◦ C decreased by 47.9%, 72.3%, and 86.2%, respectively.
5. Compared with other mixing ratios, the mixing ratio of coconut shell aggregate (CCSA) to recycled brick aggregate (RBA, WRBA) at
about 25:75 has a certain improvement effect on the flexural strength of concrete. In addition, this mixing ratio has limited
deterioration on the compressive strength and the residual compressive strength of concrete.
6. Compared with NAC, replacing the NA with CCSA, RBA, and WRBA provided significant cost advantages. However, this also
reduced the compressive strength and cost efficiency, thereby hindering the widespread application of recycled aggregate as
substitutes for the NA in concrete. Future work should focus on improving the high temperature resistance of the CCSA and the
compressive strength–cost efficiency to improve the possibility of replacing the NA in concrete with recycled aggregates.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Haibao Liu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft,
Visualization. Qiuyi Li: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision. Peihan
Wang: Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.

Data availability

No data was used for the research described in the article.

Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Project Numbers 52078261 from the National Natural Science
Foundation of China.

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