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Biases in life cycle assessment of circular concrete

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  • Habibi, Alireza
  • Bamshad, Omid
  • Golzary, Abooali
  • Buswell, Richard
  • Osmani, Mohammed

Abstract

This investigation constitutes the fourth phase of a conceptual framework designed to produce circular concrete upon the main principals of circular economy reduce, reuse and recycle. Comparative life cycle assessment is carried out for conventional and circular concrete mixtures to identify biases in the results of common life cycle assessments. Ten midpoint and four endpoint indicators are assessed using the impact 2002+ method. In baseline scenarios, environmental performances of conventional and circular concrete mixtures are compared over identical service lifes, considering cradle-to-grave and cradle-to-cradle (closed-loop) system boundaries, respectively. Results reveal that by using optimal amounts of two industrial wastes i.e. Silica fume and ground granulated blast furnace slag, as binder materials, and recycled concrete aggregate, the environmental performance of concrete is significantly enhanced. Such condition is obtained by remarkable reduction of environmental indicators (up to 44%) at both midpoint and endpoint levels. Also, circular concrete embraces a considerable amount of Non-Renewable Energy saving (40%). Investigating the impact of different end-of-life scenarios indicates that limiting boundary conditions in the cradle-to-gate approach (lack of considering end-of-life stage) has offset the results. Furthermore, the comparison trends were completely reversed in some environmental indicators upon considering the impact of service life.

Suggested Citation

  • Habibi, Alireza & Bamshad, Omid & Golzary, Abooali & Buswell, Richard & Osmani, Mohammed, 2024. "Biases in life cycle assessment of circular concrete," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:192:y:2024:i:c:s136403212301095x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.114237
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Taehyoung Kim & Sungho Tae & Chang U Chae, 2016. "Analysis of Environmental Impact for Concrete Using LCA by Varying the Recycling Components, the Compressive Strength and the Admixture Material Mixing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-14, April.
    2. Kumar, Sanjeev & Skariah Thomas, Blessen & Gupta, Vinayak & Basu, Prarthita & Shrivastava, Sandeep, 2018. "Sandstone wastes as aggregate and its usefulness in cement concrete – A comprehensive review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 1147-1153.
    3. Kim, Taehyoung & Tae, Sungho & Roh, Seungjun, 2013. "Assessment of the CO2 emission and cost reduction performance of a low-carbon-emission concrete mix design using an optimal mix design system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 729-741.
    4. Dwarakanath Ravikumar & Duo Zhang & Gregory Keoleian & Shelie Miller & Volker Sick & Victor Li, 2021. "Carbon dioxide utilization in concrete curing or mixing might not produce a net climate benefit," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.
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