Life cycle inventory of ceramic brick, concrete block and construction and demolition waste brick: Case study in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

The demolition of buildings, apart from being energy intensive and disruptive, inevitably produces construction and demolition waste (C&Dw). Unfortunately, even today, the majority of this waste ends up underexploited and not considered as valuable resources to be re-circulated into a closed/open loop process under the umbrella of circular economy (CE). Considering the amount of virgin aggregates needed in civil engineering applications, C&Dw can act as sustainable catalyst towards the preservation of natural resources and the shift towards a CE. This study completes current research by presenting a life cycle inventory compilation and life cycle assessment case study of two buildings in France. The quantification of the end-of-life environmental impacts of the two buildings and subsequently the environmental impacts of recycled aggregates production from C&Dw was realized using the framework of life cycle assessment (LCA). The results indicate that the transport of waste, its treatment, and especially asbestos’ treatment are the most impactful phases. For example, in the case study of the first building, transport and treatment of waste reached 35% of the total impact for global warming. Careful, proactive, and strategic treatment, geolocation, and transport planning is recommended for the involved stakeholders and decision makers in order to ensure minimal sustainability implications during the implementation of CE approaches for C&Dw.

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Life Cycle GHG Assessment of Mixed Construction and Demolition Waste Treatment for End of Life Recovery Facility Design: A Sydney, Australia Case Study

Volume 6: 25th Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference (DFMLC) ◽

10.1115/detc2020-22578 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tahli Moore ◽

Hao Zhang

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Industrial Waste ◽

Waste Treatment ◽

New South ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Construction And Demolition Waste ◽

Demolition Waste ◽

South Wales ◽

Sydney Australia

Abstract Historically in Australia, mixed Construction and Demolition waste, and Commercial and Industrial waste has been traditionally landfilled. As environmental impacts of landfilling is becoming more evident New South Wales policy makers and innovators have begun exploring an incineration strategy to use such waste to generate electricity. The objective of this study is to utilise life cycle assessment to evaluate GHG emissions from this waste treatment strategy and the environmental impact of a case study facility, in Sydney Australia. The system boundary includes the thermal treatment of waste through incineration, the electricity generation from the steam turbine and air pollution control processes involved within. The functional unit is based on 1 tonne of input mixed Construction and Demolition waste and Commercial and Industrial waste. GHG emissions are calculated and the result shows that the facility generates 0.994 MWh/tonne waste and 1.16 tCO2e/MWh electricity. This emission is lower than a brown coal fired powerplant emission factor 1.31 tCO2e/MWh. The results from this study assists understanding and policy making for the future of Energy-from-Waste as part of the generation mix in New South Wales, Australia.

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Life cycle assessment of construction and demolition waste management systems: a Spanish case study

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment ◽

10.1007/s11367-011-0350-2 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 232-241 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

Irma T. Mercante ◽

María D. Bovea ◽

Valeria Ibáñez-Forés ◽

Alejandro P. Arena

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Waste Management ◽

Construction And Demolition Waste ◽

Management Systems ◽

Demolition Waste

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Environmental and Economic Life Cycle Assessment of Recycled Coarse Aggregates: A Portuguese Case Study

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma14185452 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (18) ◽

pp. 5452

Author(s):

Adriana B. Dias ◽

João N. Pacheco ◽

José D. Silvestre ◽

Isabel M. Martins ◽

Jorge de Brito

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Construction And Demolition Waste ◽

Recycled Aggregates ◽

Demolition Waste ◽

Coarse Aggregates ◽

Natural Aggregates ◽

Ready Mix Concrete

The incorporation of recycled aggregates in concrete not only reduces the extraction of natural resources, but also decreases landfill disposal of construction and demolition waste. Hence, environmental impacts and costs are reduced, promoting the use of recycled aggregates and circular economy. However, the impacts of transport depend on the distance between facilities and longer distances may result in recycled aggregates being more costly and having larger environmental impact than natural aggregates. This paper discusses this topic, presents a review on the use of life cycle assessment methodology on natural and recycled aggregates for concrete, and applies this methodology in a real context pertaining the procurement of coarse aggregates to ready-mix concrete plants. A case study of two Portuguese regions, Coimbra and Lisbon, is presented. For each region, a quarry, a construction and demolition waste plant, and a ready-mix concrete plant are chosen and a comparative life cycle assessment is made. Different scenarios for the supply of natural and recycled aggregates are studied and the scenarios for recycled aggregates procurement include different hypotheses for the installation (construction and demolition waste plant or quarry) processing the construction and demolition waste into recycled aggregates. For this case study and both regions, it was found that the supply of recycled aggregates produced at the construction and demolition waste plant has lower environmental impact and cost than all other scenarios, including the provision of natural aggregates, except when it is assumed that the quarry is licensed and equipped for receiving unsorted construction and demolition waste and processing it into recycled aggregates. The paper shows that transport distance is a determining factor in the comparison of the impacts of the procurement of natural and recycled aggregates. Moreover, in the Portuguese context, the environmental impacts of the procurement of recycled aggregates may be smaller than those of natural aggregates, but cost may be larger for recycled aggregates, preventing that the most sustainable option is chosen.

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Comparison of scenarios for the integrated management of construction and demolition waste by life cycle assessment: A case study in Brazil

Waste Management & Research ◽

10.1177/0734242x16657605 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 34 (10) ◽

pp. 1026-1035 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Carmenlucia Santos Giordano Penteado ◽

Laís Peixoto Rosado

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Integrated Management ◽

Construction And Demolition Waste ◽

Demolition Waste

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BIM-Based Tools for Managing Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW): A Scoping Review

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13158427 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 8427

Author(s):

Bahareh Nikmehr ◽

M. Reza Hosseini ◽

Jun Wang ◽

Nicholas Chileshe ◽

Raufdeen Rameezdeen

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Scoping Review ◽

Construction And Demolition Waste ◽

Future Research ◽

Demolition Waste ◽

Scant Attention ◽

Intellectual Deficiencies ◽

Whole Life Cycle ◽

Point Of Reference ◽

Design And Construction

This article provides a picture of the latest developments in providing BIM-based tools for construction and demolition waste (CDW) management. The coverage and breadth of the literature on offering BIM-based tools and technologies for dealing with CDW throughout the whole life cycle of construction are investigated, and gaps are identified. Findings reveal that, although various BIM-based technologies are closely associated with CDW, much of the existing research on this area has focused on the design and construction phase; indeed, the problem of CDW in post-construction stages has received scant attention. Besides, the now available tools and technologies are lacking in cross-phase insights into project waste aspects and are weak in theoretical rigor. This article contributes to the field by identifying the intellectual deficiencies in offering BIM-based tools and technologies when dealing with CDW. So, too, it points to major priorities for future research on the topic. For practitioners, the study provides a point of reference and raises awareness in the field about the most advanced available BIM-based technologies for dealing with CDW problems.

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