Abstract:

Reduction in the availability of natural raw materials is forcing concrete industry to adopt environmentally friendly approaches. Utilization of recycled materials in concrete production has become a popular approach to lessen the environmental footprint of the concrete production. Glass is one of the most consumed materials that can be easily collected and recycled. Glass use in concrete production may potentially reduce the amount of natural raw materials used in concrete production and prevents the use of virgin lands for landfilling purposes. Reported work initially investigates the fresh and hardened performances of recycled glass sand (RGS) incorporated concrete and further sustainability analysis was also carried out. As an initial attempt for this particular research, natural sand was replaced by 10% RGS in aiming to assess their suitability from the environmental and economical sustainability point of view. In this regard, concretes made with partially substituted RGS (10% by mass replacement) with equivalent 28-day compressive cube strengths of 30 N/mm2 and 45 N/mm2 were produced. The results showed that the use RGS could improve concrete fresh properties slightly. Use of RGS by 10% as a replacement to natural fine aggregate was observed to reduce compressive strength at early ages by approximately 10% and 14% but strength losses were minimized to 0.6% and 10.5% for 30-RGS and 45-RGS respectively at 28-days compared to conventional concrete mixes. Ultrasonic pulse velocity results showed that RGS incorporation provide either similar or denser matrix compared to conventional mixes. Results indicated that use of RGS as a fine aggregate replacement could lead to environmentally sustainable concrete production if it is supplied within range of 14.4 km based on eCO2 emissions. It is also revealed that RGS could provide cost-efficient concrete production on the condition of supplied from closer facilities.

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