Eco-Concrete :

Opportunities &

Challenges

Presented by : Abhishek Suman

What is Eco-Concrete ?

ECO- concrete is a revolutionary topic in the history of

concrete industry. This was first invented in Denmark in

the year 1998. ECO- concrete has nothing to do with

color. It is a concept of thinking environment into

concrete considering every aspect from raw materials

manufacture over mixture design to structural design,

construction, and service life.

ECO- concrete is a type of concrete which resembles

the conventional concrete but the production or usage

of such concrete requires minimum amount of energy

and causes least harm to the environment.

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Environmental Goals :

ECO- Concrete is expected to fulfill the following environmental obligations:

Reduction of CO2 emissions by 21 %. This is in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol of 1997.

Increase the use of inorganic residual products from industries other than the concrete industry by approx. 20%.

Reduce the use of fossil fuels by increasing the use of waste derived fuels in the cement industry.

The recycling capacity of the ECO- concrete must not be less compared to existing concrete types.

The production and the use of ECO- concrete must not deteriorate the working environment.

The structures do not impose much harm to the environment during their service life.

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Advantages of Eco-Concrete :

ECO-concrete has manifold advantages over the conventional concrete. Since it uses the recycled aggregates and materials, it reduces the extra load in landfills and mitigates the wastage of aggregates. Thus, the net CO2 emissions are reduced.

The reuse of materials also contributes intensively to economy. Since the waste materials like aggregates from a nearby area and fly ash from a nearby power plant are not much expensive and also transport costs are minimal.

ECO-concrete involves reduction of amount cement in the mix, this practice helps in reducing the consumption of cement overall.

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Several other advantages related to ECO-concrete :

Reduced CO2 emissions.

Low production costs as wastes directly substitute the cement.

Saves energy, emissions and waste water.

Helps in recycling industry wastes.

Reduces the consumption of cement overall.

ECO-concrete is having good thermal and fire resistant.

Better workability.

Sustainable development.

Greater strength and durability than normal concrete.

Compressive strength and Flexural behavior is fairly equal to that of the conventional concrete.

ECO-concrete might solve some of the societies ‘problems with the use of inorganic, residual products which should otherwise be deposited.

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How to produce ECO-concrete :

To increase the use of conventional residual products:

To minimize the clinker content, i.e. by replacing cement

with fly ash, micro silica in larger amounts than are

allowed today.

By developing new green cements and binding materials,

i.e. by increasing the use of alternative raw materials and

alternative fuels, and by developing/improving cement

with low energy consumption.

Concrete with inorganic residual products :(stone dust,

crushed concrete as aggregate in quantities and for areas

that are not allowed today) and cement stabilized

foundation with waste incinerator slag, low quality fly ash

or other inorganic residual products.

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A pictorial representation of the methods to

Produce ECO-Concrete :

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LIMITATIONS OF ECO-CONCRETE

Argued that green concrete can be made durable by using stainless steel reinforcements, but the predicament is that by using stainless steel concrete the cost of the construction increases considerably. Even after this, eco concrete is not as durable as the conventional concrete. The limitations of using eco concrete can be summarized as below:

By using stainless steel, cost of reinforcement increases.

Structures constructed with green concrete have comparatively less life than structures with conventional concrete.

Split tension of green concrete is less than that of conventional concrete.

Not as durable as conventional concrete.

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SCOPE IN INDIA

Concrete is an indispensable entity for a developing

country like India which desperately needs a

continuously expanding infrastructure.

India is the second largest producer of cement in the

world. Further India would be facing an exponential

growth in the concrete demand by 2020.

Being produced in voluminous quantities in India, the

concrete industry has a considerable part in the net CO2

emissions from the country. The net CO2 emissions from

the construction agency are greater than any other

industry.

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Conclusions :

Apart from several limitations coupled with the urgent

need of reduction in green house gas emissions, has

sparked off a number of researches across the globe to

make green concrete more durable and bring it up to

the mark with conventional concrete.

So definitely use of concrete product like GREEN

CONCRETE in future will not only reduce the emission of

CO2 in environment and environmental impact but also

economical to produce.

The above facts clearly state a wide and promising

scope of Green Concrete in the Near Future.

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THANK YOU

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