Production of SRM construction products for building and civil engineering applications
About this good practice
EU construction sector creates 9% of GDP and employs 18 million people, but also uses about ½ of resources and created 1/3 of waste within EU. The construction waste can create excellent secondary raw materials (SRM) and thus reduce the demand of virgin raw materials.
As global population is expected to exceed 85% of urbanization, expectations are to have more urban construction. The SMR construction products are reducing environmental impact for 20% through developed circular business models.
The pilot production plants was set to demonstrate technical, technological, and administrative possibilities of processing and using of various non-hazardous construction as well as some other waste types to produce more sustainable construction products. The pilot production reached Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7. It was itself placed in the revitalized degraded area.
The pilot production plant, run by Nigrad, is producing the following 4 groups of SRM-based products: recycled aggregates; geotechnical composites; green concrete; recycled soil.
First green blocks for separation were produced on Nov 13, 2020 and were used for construction of a small demo facility and partition walls at the landfill to separate aggregates.
The EU cofunded Cindarela project allowed for successful testing of recipes to produce green concrete (prepared by Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute) produced with the mobile concrete batching plant to set up the facility of the demo site.
Resources needed
The Slovenian partnership (Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute and Nigrad d.o.o.) for demonstration within Cinderela project received 1.7 million EUR from the Horizon programme.
Evidence of success
Within Cinderela a device was tested that grinds waste concrete at 150T/H to a large fraction size 0/63mm, which was further ground to a fraction 0/32 (at the capacity of 90T/H) and used to create concrete marked C25/30 at the capacity of 8m3/H. This produced 1000T of concrete building blocks made from "green concrete", which was tested and certified as a safe resource to be used in urban construction.
A demo house was built on location, made with construction blocks from recycled concrete.
Potential for learning or transfer
The GP clearly demonstrates how a site for processing construction waste into SRM can be set up and provides evidence for the safety of the SRM as construction building blocks for use in urban construction. Furthermore the GP shows how a degraded site can be converted into a industrial site for processing of construction waste and production of SRM, with application of the tested recipes for production of green concrete. It contributes to reduction of construction waste, reduction on demand of virgin raw materials and provides new business opportunities for waste managing companies dealing with construction waste.
Further information
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