Alternative coarse aggregate for sustainable and eco-friendly concrete - A review

Abstract

Coarse aggregate is considered as the most important component, which provides volume as well as strength to the concrete. It is mainly obtained from natural resources by quarrying rocks or dredging from the river bed. Every year, construction industries use huge quantities of natural aggregates, which leads to depletion of raw materials and degradation of the ecosystem. For future generations, alternative sustainable coarse aggregate has become an urgent need. This paper reviews different types of alternative coarse aggregates which can be considered in future construction. Influence of alternative coarse aggregates obtained from the waste of different sectors such as steel slag aggregate (SSA), ceramic waste aggregate (CWA), waste brick aggregate (WBA), recycled coarse aggregate (RCA), waste glass aggregate (WGA), E-waste aggregate (EWA), coconut shell aggregate (CSA), oil palm shell aggregate (OPSA), Expanded Polystyrene aggregate (EPSA), Lightweight expanded clay aggregate (LWECA) and waste rubber tire aggregate (WRTA) is reported. Furthermore, the behavior of artificial aggregates like cold bonded fly ash aggregate (CBFAA), cold bonded quarry dust aggregate (CBQDA), and sintered fly ash aggregate (SFAA) on properties of concrete are also studied. This paper reports the replacement of natural coarse aggregate partially with different alternative coarse aggregates and its influence on fresh, hardened, and durability properties of concrete.