A review on the contemporary innovations & advancements in the field of green concrete

Abstract

Waste management and environmental preservation are some of the hot topics the world is trying to address today. In the pursuit to achieve these goals, researchers and stakeholders all over the globe are researching and developing sustainable technologies. In the area of the construction industry, concrete is considered to be one of the most dynamic construction materials ever developed and utilized practically, and thus concrete is hugely utilized in construction practices all over the world. With the growing demand in infrastructure because of the increase in the global population, concrete would be needed to be produced in billions of tons. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is considered to be the main binder of concrete. It leads to approximately 8% of the global carbon dioxide emission contributed by human beings. Also, the production of concrete has led to a huge danger on natural deposits of raw materials. Thus, the growing demand for concrete and its sustainability-related issues have made it critical for researchers to consider other alternatives for concrete production, where OPC and aggregates can either be partially or fully replaced as the main binding material of concrete. One such highly anticipated alternative is green concrete. The paper highlights contemporary innovations & advancements in the field of green concrete by exploring the various advantages one can achieve by utilizing alternative binding materials such as alkali-activated binders, supplementary cementitious materials, and recycled materials like wastewater in concrete. The incorporation of these alternative and more sustainable materials into concrete not only helps us to achieve the aim of green buildings and environmental conservation, but research has shown that the incorporation of these alternatives also leads to the enhanced properties of concrete as compared to the conventional one. Even if we explore the economic aspects of utilizing these alternatives, the new binders are found to be having better results than the conventional ones.