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Life-Cycle Assessment of Production of Concrete Using Copper Tailings and Fly Ash as a Partial Replacement of Cement

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Advances in Sustainable Construction Materials

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering ((LNCE,volume 68))

Abstract

Utilization of anthropogenic wastes in the production of building materials is an utmost necessity in the present-day context. The primary objective of this study is to assess the impact of concrete production on the surrounding environment due to partial replacement of cement with  copper tailings and fly ash. In this study, global warming potential (GWP) and emissions resulted due to the production of concrete have been comprehensively quantified using life-cycle assessment (LCA) analysis. While performing the analysis, all important resources (like electrical energy, raw materials used, and water consumption associated with procurement, utilization, maintenance, and recycling to their final disposal) have been considered. The guiding consensus frameworks, nomenclatures, and different available methodologies have been referred from ISO 14040. For concrete, one cubic meter has been taken as a functional unit throughout the study for evaluation and comparing all the parameters. To perform LCA analysis, UMBERTO NXT tool has been used by taking into consideration of input parameters associated with the proportion of raw materials used in the production of concrete (e.g., cement, sand, aggregates, admixtures, fly ash, copper tailings, and water), its storage and transportation, and distribution. The results obtained from the study demonstrates how the utilization of alternative wastes materials is beneficial in the production of concrete while minimizing adverse environmental impact in a sustainable manner.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Prof. Kuldip Singh Sangwan and Mr. Kailash Chaudhari Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, Pilani Campus for allowing the access to the UBERTO NXT software and helping to understand the software.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Atria Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, 560024, India

    Rahul Dandautiya

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, Pilani, 333031, India

    Ajit Pratap Singh

Authors
  1. Rahul Dandautiya
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  2. Ajit Pratap Singh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rahul Dandautiya .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, Telangana, India

    Rathish Kumar Pancharathi

  2. CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

    Bhaskar Sangoju

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

    Sandeep Chaudhary

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Dandautiya, R., Singh, A.P. (2020). Life-Cycle Assessment of Production of Concrete Using Copper Tailings and Fly Ash as a Partial Replacement of Cement. In: Pancharathi, R., Sangoju, B., Chaudhary, S. (eds) Advances in Sustainable Construction Materials. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 68. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3361-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3361-7_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-3360-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-3361-7

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