Life cycle assessment of recycled concretes: A case study in southern Italy

Concrete industry is responsible of the most significant contribution to the global warming due to the large amount of substances with environmental impacts produced during its entire life cycle (production process, construction, maintenance, dismantlement, and scrapping). The most important issue characterizing the concrete industry is related to the constant growth of consumption of natural aggregates. The purpose of the present research is to apply the standard protocol of life cycle assessment to 3 different concrete mixtures composed by wastes from construction and demolition (C&D), marble sludge and cement kiln dust (CDK) in order to compare the environmental and energy impacts. The main purpose is to analyze the potentials (capabilities/benefits) of recycled aggregate concrete. The proposed model analyses 37 recovery possible scenarios. The results were analyzed with the software SimaPro (c) and with the life cycle impact assessment method Eco Indicator 99. The results show how it is possible to decide for the optimal solution in order to reduce emissions and impacts due to the concrete production. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.