Aus Altbeton wird Beton - ein innovativer Recyclingansatz

Old concrete becomes new concrete - an innovative recycling approach.

Old concrete will be a future raw material source and is thereby resource-saving. The study underlines this with the results of the conducted life cycle assessment. For this purpose old concrete gets treated by an innovative recycling approach to ensure a high valuable recycling of the prepared fractions (recirculation into the concrete cycle). A vital prerequisite is the non-destructive separation of cement stone and aggregate. The methodology of the electrodynamic fragmentation guarantees this with ultrashort, underwater electrical discharges. The recycling of resources is generally desirable under the target of resource conservation, but the methodology of the electrodynamic fragmentation has to be investigated if it is advantageous under environmental aspects. Therefore the methodology of the life cycle assessment according ISO 14040/44 is used and the results are compared with the environmental impact of the primary provision. The results show that by using waste heat from another suitable location/site the impacts of the innovative approach are lower than the impacts of the primary production. The results are similar by using higher transport distances for the primary products than for the recycled materials.