Submit to Sustainability Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Recycling of Concrete Wastes toward Sustainable Building Materials

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Waste and Recycling".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 8705

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zhiming Ma

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

College of Civil Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
Interests: sustainability; construction and demolition waste recycling; recycled aggregate; recycled powder; recycled concrete properties and modification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Chaofeng Liang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Civil Engineering, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China
Interests: C&D waste reclamation; cleaner materials; recycled concrete

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Abundant concrete waste, as a major portion of construction and demolition waste, has been generated following the global urbanization process, and the majority of construction and demolition waste is directed to landfills by traditional disposal methods, which has brought about some social and environmental issues. Therefore, eco-friendly reclamation approaches to recycling concrete waste into sustainable building materials has been developed, and the collected concrete waste is commonly prepared into recycled materials and further reutilized in new cement concrete products. Scholars worldwide have carried out large-scale investigations in order to evaluate the properties of sustainable recycled materials and recycled cementitious materials, and many important conclusions have been drawn. However, research from previous investigations needs to be further eluciated, and the properties of newly developed recycled building materials need to be accurately evaluated.

This Special Issue aims to collect the original research that contributes to the performance evaluation of recycled aggregate, recycled powder and its newly prepared cementitious materials, which helps the further investigation and application of sustainable building materials from concrete waste.

We invite scholars from around the world to submit to this Special Issue of Sustainability. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

(1) Management on the reclamation of construction and demolition waste;

(2) Advanced recycling technologies for concrete watste;

(3) Suatainable recycled materials including crushed recycled aggregate and ground recycled powder;

(4) Life cycle assessment of recycled concrete;

(5) Properties and enhancement of recycled concrete;

(6) Geopolymer prepared with concrete waste;

(7) 3D printed recycled concrete.

Dr. Zhiming Ma
Dr. Chaofeng Liang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

recycled concrete
recycled materials
sustainability
renewable building materials
properties improvement
mechanical properties
durability performance

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

21 pages, 18459 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials with Ultra-High Content of Waste Concrete Powder: Properties and Improvement

by Ruihan Hu, Youchao Zhang, Zhiyu Zhang and Zhiming Ma

Sustainability 2023, 15(20), 14812; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152014812 - 12 Oct 2023

Viewed by 755

Abstract

The recycled powder (RP) of construction waste, as a kind of silica–aluminum waste, can have a certain gelling effect after alkali activation modification. Sodium silicate (water glass) and NaOH are used as composite alkali activators to stimulate RP to prepare alkali-activated mortar. The different micro and macro properties of RP are studied under the ultra-high substitution rates of 70%, 80%, 90%, and 100% of cementation-based materials. The results show that the mechanical properties of the regenerated powder mixture decrease gradually with the increase in the substitution rate. When the replacement rate of RP is 70%, the 3 d and 28 d compressive strength decreases by 73.63% and 69.46%, respectively. When the replacement rate reaches 100%, the 3 d and 28 d compressive strength decreases by 96.98% and 93.74%, respectively. The cement-based material after alkali excitation has the characteristics of early strength and the mechanical properties are greatly improved, and the mechanical properties of cement-based materials can be effectively increased by increasing the modulus of water glass. At 70%RP substitution rate, the compressive strength of 28 d increases by 3.59% and 107.71% when the modulus of sodium silicate is 1.0 M and 1.6 M, compared with the unactivated groups. At 100%RP substitution rate, the 28 d strength of the unexcited specimen is 0.92 MPa, and the 28 d compressive strength reaches 6.15 MPa and 12.86 MPa when the modulus of sodium silicate is 1.0 M and 1.6 M. The results show that the alkali-activated mortar has good application potential. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling of Concrete Wastes toward Sustainable Building Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 3065 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Lightweight Concrete Made of Cement Kiln Dust and Liquefied Polystyrene Foam Improved with Other Waste Additives

by Abeer M. El-Sayed, Abeer A. Faheim, Aida A. Salman and Hosam M. Saleh

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 15313; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215313 - 18 Nov 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2198

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to mix two problematic wastes, cement kiln dust (CKD) and polystyrene waste liquified by gasoline, to produce a new lightweight cementitious material, as a green composite used in the construction industry. Various ratios of liquified polystyrene (LPS) were blended with CKD to achieve the optimum mixing ratio in the absence and presence of different additives. A significant improvement of mechanical properties (compressive strength of 2.57 MPa) and minimization of the porosity (51.3%) with reasonable water absorption (42.4%) has been detected in the mixing of 30% LPS with CKD due to filling the voids and gaps with liquified polymer. Portland cement, waste glass, and iron slag have been incorporated into CKD-30% LPS paste at different mass fractions of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. However, a considerable value of compressive strength up to 2.7 MPa was reported in presence of 15% of any additive material with CKD-30% LPS matrix. This study recommends implementing a viable strategy to upcycle any of the examined wastes of the optimum ratios (15% waste glass or iron slag with 30% of LPS) together with another hazardous waste, namely cement kiln dust, to produce lightweight cementitious bricks in eco-friendly sustainable technology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling of Concrete Wastes toward Sustainable Building Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 5255 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Flexural Behavior of Portland Cement Mortars Reinforced with Hybrid Blends of Recycled Waste Fibers

by Abdulaziz Alsaif and Mohammad Alshannag

Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13494; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013494 - 19 Oct 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1486

Abstract

Laboratory tests were performed for evaluating the flexural performance of Portland cement mortars reinforced with recycled fibers. The objective was to find the best blend of unsorted recycled post-consumer tire steel fibers (RTSF), and recycled plastic fibers (RPF) for enhancing the flexural behavior and ductility of cement-based composites. Ten mortar mixes containing various blends of RTSF and RPF were cast and tested under a displacement-controlled four-point bending ASTM test. Test results indicate that the mortar mixes reinforced with recycled fibers satisfied the ASTM flow requirements and achieved a flexural response and toughness comparable to the response of similar mixes, containing manufactured steel fibers (MSF) only, at the same fiber dosage. Among the recycled fiber blends investigated, the mix containing 0.5% RTSF and 0.5% RPF (on volume basis) exhibited relatively superior flexural characteristics compared to the mixes reinforced with the same dosage of MSF only. Moreover, the positive synergetic effect of fiber blends on the post-cracking strength and flexural toughness was pronounced at 0.5% RTSF and 0.5% RPF (on volume basis). Hence, as an echo-friendly material, recycled fiber blends of RTSF and RPF could be recommended for enhancing the flexural performance of cement-based composites at a lesser cost. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling of Concrete Wastes toward Sustainable Building Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 9651 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Potential Use of Wastewater Treatment Plant Sludge in Fabrication of Burnt Clay Bricks

by Faisal Amin, Safeer Abbas, Wasim Abbass, Abdelatif Salmi, Ali Ahmed, Danish Saeed, Muhammad Sufian and Mohamed Mahmoud Sayed

Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6711; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116711 - 31 May 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2959

Abstract

Water treatment plants produce a huge amount of sludge, which are ultimately disposed to the nearest water channel, leading to harmful effects. This unmanaged wastewater treatment plant sludge (WTS) results in social and environmental concerns. Therefore, the utilization of WTS in construction activities can be a viable option for the management of waste sludge, leading to sustainable infrastructures. The main aim of this study was to investigate the potential of WTS in the manufacturing of clay bricks at an industrial scale. WTS was procured from the Rawal Lake water treatment plant, Pakistan. Clay was collected from a local industrial brick kiln site. Brick specimens with varying percentages of WTS (i.e., 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30% and 40%) were casted and their mechanical and durability characteristics were evaluated. It was observed that the bricks incorporating WTS showed higher compressive and flexural strengths compared to that of the normal clay bricks. For instance, brick specimens incorporating 5% WTS by weight of clay showed a 10% increase in compressive strength. Furthermore, brick specimens incorporating 20% of WTS by clay weight satisfied the strength requirements as per local building codes for masonry construction. Scanning electronic microscopic (SEM) images confirm the porous microstructure of brick specimens manufactured with WTS, which results in 12% lighter clay bricks as compared to conventional clay bricks. Moreover, the durability characteristics of brick specimens incorporating WTS showed better performance. It can be concluded that bricks fabricated with a high proportion of WTS (i.e., 20%) will minimize the environmental overburden and lead to more durable and economical masonry construction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recycling of Concrete Wastes toward Sustainable Building Materials)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Recycling of Concrete Wastes toward Sustainable Building Materials

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (4 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI