Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
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Concrete Pavements
Florian Gschsser, Michael Bsch, Holger Wallbaum
Conference Paper
for the
Task Group:
TG62 Built Environment Complexity
Abstract
In recent years, sustainability has become a major concern in the field of infrastructure. Several
studies with the goal of determining the environmental potential of road constructions in
general, as well as of concrete roads specifically, have been or are about to be carried out.
These studies are focused on the comparison of environmental impacts concerning different
types of road constructions using materials produced in their standard way, without looking
deeper into the material production processes and their ecological optimisation potential. This
paper focuses on the environmental potentials concerning greenhouse gas emissions in CO2
equivalence emissions hidden in concrete pavements, i.e. potentials of the cement and concrete
production. These possible ecological advantages are investigated by performing several cradleto-gate life cycle assessments (LCA) including all processes from the raw material extraction to
the moment the material leaves the production plant, for different production configurations.
Thereby, concrete compositions and cement types which can be used as alternatives in road
pavements, as well as the production technology and the use of alternative resources for the
fabrication of the three materials (clinker, cement, concrete), can be used as set screws to
influence the environmental impacts resulting from the concrete pavement.
For Switzerland, realistic improvement potentials are identified and compared to the present
situation. Potential production changes analysed in this study comprise the utilisation of CEM II
instead of CEM I cement and the use of increased amounts of recycled aggregates. Results
show reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (kg CO2-eq) of up to 25%. Furthermore, the
ecological impacts of the production of cement could be reduced by increasing the thermal
substitution rate of waste, the share of biogenic wastes and the energy efficiency of the cement
kiln systems. However, these potentials are more difficult to achieve. Changes in the production
infrastructure are highly cost intensive and will only occur in the long-term. The fuel
substitution rate and the type of co-processed wastes depend on waste availability, market
prices, waste regulations, and may also require costly infrastructure modifications. Therefore,
average data for the cement production was used. Finally, based on the LCA-calculations the
potentials for the Swiss and the Central and Eastern European (concrete) motorway network are
determined. In Switzerland within the next 15 years 180 km of motorways will be built.
Assuming the percentage of concrete pavements remains at 14%, the application of the concrete
with the lowest environmental impact would contribute 0.2% of the aspired CO2 emission
reduction of Switzerland by 2012. For the annexation of the EU-12 countries motorways with a
total length of 14000 km will be built in Central and Eastern Europe until 2015. Assuming a
concrete pavement percentage of 25%, the application of the best practice would here
contribute 0.35% of the aspired carbon emission reduction of the total EU by 2012.
Keywords: road construction, concrete pavements, life cycle assessment, ecological potentials,
carbon emissions
1 Introduction
The reduction of carbon emissions is one of the main aims of a sustainable development.
Therefore, the European Union aspires to reduce the CO2 emissions by 20% until 2020 in
comparison to the emissions of 1990 (European Communities, 2008). In 2006, transport caused
(without taking the infrastructure into account) 24.6% of the carbon emissions of the EU-27
countries (European Communities, 2009), whereby fuel consumption causes the biggest part of
the transport emissions. Thus, research focuses on energy efficient transport vehicles. However,
the infrastructure can also contribute to a sustainable development, by developing resourceconserving road constructions with lower maintenance frequencies, less rolling resistance and
lower noise emissions.
At the moment 14%, i.e. 247 km, of the Swiss road network is paved with a concrete layer
(Werner, 2004). However, the Swiss Federal Roads Office ASTRA pursues the policy not to
construct national roads with concrete pavements in the near future for several, partly out-dated,
reasons: expensive damages, complex construction process, delayed opening for traffic
(Werner, 2004). Therefore, Swiss cement and concrete producers pursue the goal of becoming
part of the game again by determining and improving the performance of their products.
Several life cycle assessments were or are about to be carried out in order to demonstrate the
ecological usability and properties of concrete itself and furthermore of concrete pavements
(Birgisdttir, 2005; Holldorb & Meisenzahl, 2003; Mroueh, et al., 2000; Conway-Schempf,
1999). Most of these LCAs compare ecological impacts of different road construction types
over the whole life cycle of production, use and disposal applying standard processes.
This paper attempts to quantify the ecological improvement potentials in production processes
of concrete pavements concerning greenhouse gas emissions. Previous LCA studies indentified
the production characteristics with large ecological potentials: clinker production, type of
cement used, use of recycled aggregates (Bsch, et al., 2009; Jeske, et al., 2004; Kytzia &
Seyler, 2009). The aim of this paper is to combine the potential of these three set screws to a
realisable best practice and to calculate the total potential for the Swiss national road and
Central and Eastern European motorway network.
Daily Equivalent Traffic Load > 3 000 10 000 average daily passages of equivalent single axle load
Swiss Association of Road and Transportation Experts (Schweizerischer Verband der Strassen- und
Verkehrsfachleute)
C30/ 37
Exposure classes
Bending tensile
strength
after 28 days
Content of
cement
[N/mm2]
[kg/m ]
Effective water
cement ratio
[-]
5.5
340
0.45
32mm
16mm
8mm
32mm
22mm
16mm
3 ... 7
4 ... 8
+7%
+14%
Each concrete composition depends on the intended use of the concrete. Therefore, different
compositions for the bottom concrete and the exposed aggregate concrete are implemented. For
simplicity, in this study aggregates are grouped into sand, gravel and gravel, crushed.
Before the invention of the exposed aggregate layer, concrete pavement was constructed as one
total layer using a composition, which typically only fulfilled the requirements of the VSS
standard (Vereinigung Schweizerischer Strassenfachleute, 2008). Presently, the bottom concrete
layer consists of the same type of concrete as the former total layer. For the production of
bottom concrete primary aggregates and recycled aggregates can be used. The bottom concrete
composition with primary aggregates applied in this study represents a common composition
used in practice (table 2).
Table 2: Composition of bottom concrete with primary aggregates (Holcim Schweiz AG, 2008)
Material
[kg/m 3 ]
Primary sand
650
Primary gravel
1262
Cement
343
Water
144
Plasticiser
3.4
2.4
2404.8
The effective water cement ratio of this composition is 0.43. The amount of plasticiser and air
entering agent, which is intended to give the concrete a high resistance against freeze-thaw
attacks, will be the same in all concrete compositions analysed. The applicable cement types are
described below in detail.
The mixture composition for exposed aggregate concrete must fulfil further requirements,
compared to the bottom layer because of its additional task to reduce the generation of noise.
Therefore, no recycled aggregates and only crushed gravel of high quality can be used.
Furthermore, a higher portion of cement paste is needed (table 3). As previously stated, concrete
pavements with an exposed aggregate concrete layer are not yet mentioned in the VSS standard
and the level of experience in Switzerland is rather low in comparison with other Central
European countries like Germany. For this reason, the composition of an exposed aggregate
concrete used in practice at a motorway section in Saxony-Anhalt (Hemrich, 2008), which
fulfils the requirements of the German regulations (Forschungsgesellschaft fr Strassen- und
Verkehrswesen, 2008a, b) was analysed (table 3). The effective water cement ratio of this
composition is 0.41.
Table 3: Composition of exposed aggregate concrete with primary aggregates (Hemrich, 2008)
Material
[kg/m 3 ]
Primary sand
420
1325
Cement
420
Water
170
Plasticiser
3.4
2.4
2340.8
Hofmann and Jacobs (2007) state that the VSS standard for recycling (Vereinigung
Schweizerischer Strassenfachleute, 1998a), as well as the SIA 3 standard for concrete
(Schweizerischer Ingenieur- und Architektenverein, 2003) allows a percentage of 100%
recycled aggregates in bottom concretes. Furthermore, it is mentioned that only recycled
concrete granulates can be used as aggregates within recycling bottom concrete, as opposed to
aggregates generated from concrete mixed with other components. Four compositions using
different portions of recycled aggregates will be analysed. The use of recycled aggregates
requires a higher portion of cement paste in the concrete (Hofmann & Jacobs, 2007). The
compositions can be seen in table 4. All four compositions have the same effective water
cement ratio of 0.44, which fulfils the requirement of a ratio lower than 0.45 (Vereinigung
Schweizerischer Strassenfachleute, 1998b).
Table 4: Compositions for bottom concrete using recycled mineral aggregates
Percentage of
recycled aggregate [%]
100%
75%
50%
25%
[kg/m 3 ]
[kg/m 3 ]
[kg/m 3 ]
[kg/m 3 ]
Recycling sand
578
433.5
289
144.5
Recycling crushed
1122
841.5
561
280.5
Primary sand
162.5
325
487.5
Primary gravel
205.5
631
901.5
Cement
420
395
360
340
Water
220
210
190
176
Plasticiser
3.4
3.4
3.4
3.4
2.4
2.4
2.4
2.4
2345.8
2253.8
2361.8
2335.8
Material
Total
Cement name
Cement
clinker
CEM I
CEM II
Other main
Other main
Minor
constituent
constituents
components
type
Portland cement
CEM I
95-100
Portland blast
furnace cement
CEM II/A-S
80-94
6-20
Portland
limestone
cement
CEM II/A-LL
80-94
Portland shale
cement
CEM II/B-T
65-79
Cement
clinker
Other main
Minor
Other main
constituent
components
constituents
type
0-5
92.5
Slag sand
0-5
80.5
12
6-20
Limestone
0-5
80.5
21-35
Oil shale
0-5
66.5
Gypsum
2.5
Slag sand
2.5
12
Limestone
2.5
26
Oil shale
2.5
In total, for all six concrete compositions using the four different cements, 24 life cycle
assessments have been performed (figure 3).
Figure 2: System boundaries of the concrete production adapted from Jeske, et al. (2004)
the fuel and waste types were specified as given by Cemsuisse (2008). In general, the grinding
of blended cements, as for example CEM II, requires more electricity than CEM I, because finer
grinding is required. However, total electricity consumption is slightly reduced because of the
lower clinker content. In this study, the electricity requirement for the clinker production and
the cement grinding, i.e. the total electricity that is consumed at a cement plant, is assumed as
99.7 kWh/t for all cement types (Verein deutscher Zementwerke, 2007). Regarding the CO2
intensity of the used electricity, UCTE electricity mix was applied which represents the
European situation. The life cycle of the recycled aggregate production starts after the transport
of the reclaimed material to the production plant. For the LCAs of the recycled concretes the
ecoinvent process gravel, crushed was modified, or more precisely, all processes concerning
mining and the transport to the plant were subtracted. Therefore, the energy needed for the
crushing and classification of the recycled concrete were assumed to be the same as those of the
primary aggregates. The processes given in ecoinvent are based on a survey of the complete
Swiss concrete industry, thus they implement average values for the concrete production, for
example transport distances or mixing energy. Regarding the waste fuels used in clinker
production, only waste preparation is taken into account but not waste production. The
environmental impact of waste production is generally not attributed to the waste treatment
industry, but to the industry responsible for its generation.
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction for its financial
support. We also would like to thank cemsuisse for offering us their data. Furthermore, we want
to thank Prof. Dr. Stefanie Hellweg and her team from the Institute of Environmental
Engineering for the good collaboration.
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