Abstract
This review aims to present and discuss the mechanical and environmental properties of two different type of recycled aggregates obtain from construction and demolition waste (CDW): (1) Recycled Concrete Aggregates (RCA) and (2) Mixed Recycled Aggregates (MRA). In addition, the properties of the concrete in the fresh (workability, water/cement ratio) and hardened state (mechanical and durability properties), as well as the environmental impact of the concrete produced with the two types of recycled aggregates, are presented and discussed. Due to the heterogeneous composition of recycled aggregates, the concrete properties can be significantly variable. The systematic review concerns scientific papers published from 2010 to 2020 and it shows the importance of the selection process in order to obtain high quality CDW as well as of the type of recycled aggregates on concrete properties. In particular, recycled concrete aggregates show a better quality and homogeneity than mixed recycled aggregates that make them more suitable for concrete. This work presents an overview on the influence of recycled aggregate quality on the physical, mechanical and environmental properties of concrete.
Highlights
The construction sector in Europe uses about 50% of the total available raw materials, consuming huge quantities of natural resources and soil from which this material is extracted [1]
At the same time, according to Eurostat [2], the construction industry is the largest waste producer as construction and demolition wastes represent about 35% of the total wastes produced. This situation is reflected at Italian level, where the construction sector in 2019 produced about 69 million tons of construction and demolition wastes (CDW) [3], representing about 50% of the total amount of special wastes produced at national level
Regarding the water absorption of the two types of recycled aggregates (RA) analyzed (RCAs and Mixed Recycled Aggregates (MRA)), the experimental results highlight the importance of the selection during demolition for reducing water absorption
Summary
The construction sector in Europe uses about 50% of the total available raw materials, consuming huge quantities of natural resources and soil from which this material is extracted [1]. At the same time, according to Eurostat [2], the construction industry is the largest waste producer as construction and demolition wastes represent about 35% of the total wastes produced This situation is reflected at Italian level, where the construction sector in 2019 produced about 69 million tons of construction and demolition wastes (CDW) [3], representing about 50% of the total amount of special wastes produced at national level. During the last few years, many European Countries, no longer having the possibility to dispose of this type of waste in landfills, and having a lack of extractable quarry material, have encouraged the development of recovery processes to transform these wastes into secondary raw materials that can be reused in the construction sector [4].
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