Abstract
Masonry units made of clay or Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) are widely used in constructions from Romania and other countries. Masonry units with superior mechanical and thermal characteristics can improve the energy efficiency of buildings, especially when they are used as the main solutions for building envelope construction. Their production in recent years has increased vertiginously to meet the increased demand. Manufactured with diversified geometries, different mechanical and/or thermal characteristics have a high volume in the mass of the building and a major influence in their carbon footprint. Starting from the current context regarding the target imposed by the long-term strategy of built environment decarbonization, the aim of the paper is to analyze the potential of reusing mining waste in the production of masonry units. Mining waste represents the highest share of waste generated at national level and may represent a valuable resource for the construction industry, facilitating the creation of new jobs and support for economic development. This review presents the interest in integrating mining wastes in masonry unit production and the technical characteristics of the masonry units in which they have been used as raw materials in different percentages. Critical assessment framework using SWOT analysis highlights the key sustainability aspects (technical, environmental, social, economic) providing a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the advantages and disadvantages regarding the integration of mining waste as secondary raw materials into masonry units production.
Highlights
Construction, building operation, and the construction industry in general contribute more than 39% of total global CO2 emissions [1], playing a key role in achieving the longterm goals set out in the Paris Agreement (2015) [2] to “keep the temperature rise to 1.5 ◦ C compared to the industrialization period” and to ensure the transition to climate neutrality by 2050 [3].To meet these goals, the EU’s development priorities set out in the “European GreenDeal” [3] call for increasing the rate of building renovation making them more energy efficient and development of the industrial sector based on sustainable principles to support the transition from linear to circular economy [4,5]
Reasons for recycling mining waste; overview of the masonry units on the transition to the circular economy context in the brick industry to produce eco-responsible construction materials; discussions regarding the influence of the mining waste chemical and mineralogical composition on the manufacturing technological process of new construction materials; discussed the effect of incorporating mining waste into masonry unit’s production; over 100 scientific papers were reviewed to present an overview of masonry developments over the time and to the discuss the role of mining waste as a raw material in the production of masonry units
The restrictions given by design codes limit the use of masonry units with lower compressive strength than 5 MPa to the construction of masonry buildings placed in seismic areas, which are specific to Romanian territory
Summary
Construction, building operation, and the construction industry in general contribute more than 39% of total global CO2 emissions [1], playing a key role in achieving the longterm goals set out in the Paris Agreement (2015) [2] to “keep the temperature rise to 1.5 ◦ C compared to the industrialization period” and to ensure the transition to climate neutrality by. The main highlights of this work can be summarized as follows: reasons for recycling mining waste; overview of the masonry units on the transition to the circular economy context in the brick industry to produce eco-responsible construction materials; discussions regarding the influence of the mining waste chemical and mineralogical composition on the manufacturing technological process of new construction materials; discussed the effect of incorporating mining waste into masonry unit’s production (clay masonry units, autoclaved aerated concrete units, and polymers masonry units); over 100 scientific papers were reviewed to present an overview of masonry developments over the time and to the discuss the role of mining waste as a raw material in the production of masonry units. This review provides a good basis and guidelines for encouraging the wide adoption of mining waste circularity in masonry unit production for sustainable construction
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