Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018) 198e208

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Environmental and economic impacts assessment of concrete

pavement brick and permeable brick production process - A case
study in China
Xueliang Yuan a, 1, Yuzhou Tang a, Yue Li a, Qingsong Wang a, *, 1, Jian Zuo b,
Zhanlong Song a
a
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China
b
School of Architecture & Built Environment, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Permeable brick is used gradually with the promotion of sponge city development in China in recent
Received 22 July 2017 years. It is imperative to thoroughly analyze the environmental and economic impacts of permeable brick
Received in revised form compared to widely used concrete pavement brick. This paper analyzes and compares the environmental
8 September 2017
impact and economic cost impact of concrete brick and permeable brick in the system boundary of
Accepted 4 October 2017
Available online 5 October 2017
“cradle-to-gate”, using the life cycle assessment approach. From the perspective of source tracking, the
key processes and materials are identified for their significant environmental impacts. The results show
that environmental impacts and economic cost of concrete pavement brick is lower if the water-saving
Keywords:
Sponge city
potential of permeable brick during the service stage is not considered. The key materials with most
Permeable brick significant environmental impact are basalt powder and cement for concrete pavement brick. By
Life cycle assessment contrast, cement and crushed gravel are the key materials for permeable brick that caused the most
Economic cost analysis environmental impacts. According to the process that each key material belongs to, the corresponding
Process optimization measures are proposed. Permeable brick in each function unit can form rain infiltration of 2.01 m3 during
the service stage. This would bring significant economic, environmental and social benefits in terms of
groundwater conservation, fresh water saving, preventing urban waterlogging, cost savings of drainage
system construction and maintenance, etc. The findings could provide useful reference for the devel-
opment of sponge city and evidence-based policy making process.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction ecosystem, design and transformation in the urban planning area,

China is facing a variety of water related issues, such as water
shortage, water pollution, flooding, urban waterlogging, ground-
water recession, habitat loss for aquatic life and other problems
(Wang, 2011). Rapid urbanization is accompanied by over-
exploitation of water resources (MWR, 2012) and water pollution
(Tang et al., 2005), and inappropriate engineering measures lead to
the overall degradation of water system functions (Milliman et al.,
2000). The sponge city theory is based on the hydrological features
and water problems in China. Sponge city development is through
measures such as protection and restoration of regional water
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wqs@sdu.edu.cn (Q. Wang).
1
These authors contributed equally to this work.
rainwater utilization in buildings and reclaimed water reuse (Shao
et al., 2016). In essence, this theory is developed to make cities
resilient to environmental changes and natural disasters. The
fundamental objective is, indeed, to protect the original aquatic
ecosystems, restore damaged water ecosystem, implement low
impact development, reduce surface water runoff effectively
(Rancher, 1995) and to mitigate the impact of storm on urban areas
(Legret et al., 1996). As a crucial part of rainwater collection for
urban planning, permeable brick can effectively alleviate the
serious urban environmental issues derived from impermeable
pavement, such as the decline of underground water table, heat
island effect, etc. (Yu, 1999). It has been widely adopted in resi-
dential areas, roads, landscaping and other sponge city systems.
The Chinese central government has issued Technical Guidelines for
the Construction of Sponge City: Low Impact Development of Rain-
water System Construction (Trial) (MOHURD, 2014), The Notice of the

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.10.037
0959-6526/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 X. Yuan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018) 198e208
Central Government’s Financial Support for the Pilot Project of the
Sponge City Construction (MOHURD, 2016a, b) and other relevant
documents. The pilot projects of sponge city development have
been carried out in 30 cities (MOHURD, 2016a). Therefore, it is
imperative to examine the environmental impact and economic
impact of permeable pavement materials during the pilot stage of
sponge city developments. This provides useful inputs to guide the
large scale sponge city developments.
Sponge city development uses permeable pavement instead of
impermeable pavement. The sponge city development and the use
of permeable pavement help to improve the urban sustainability.
Permeable pavement system enables rainwater to seep into the
ground soil because of its pore permeability (Pratt, 1999), and re-
duces the rainwater runoff caused by urban development (Pratt,
1995). The studies on permeable pavement structure have been
undertaken in developed countries such as United States (AASHTO,
1993), France (Legret and Colandini, 1999), Australia (Shaekel et al.,
2003), Britain (Newman et al., 2004) and Japan (Nakayamaa and
Fujita, 2010). As suggested by Schluter and Jefferies (2002), the
porosity of permeable pavement filling material can reduce the
peak runoff significantly. Benedetto (2002) used permeable pave-
ment to promote infiltration and solved the waterlogging problems
due to heavy rain in airports. Collins and Hathaway (2007)
compared the effect of various types of permeable pavement on
water quality improvement, and Collins et al. (2006) provided a
method to investigate to what extent permeable pavement reduced
pollutants in rainwater. Permeable brick is an important part of
permeable pavement. Permeable brick originated from Holland,
and it was made through a specific process using special aggregate,
cement, cementing agent and water (Winston et al., 2016).
Permeable brick can be roughly divided into three categories ac-
cording to different cementitious materials, aggregation and pro-
duction process: concrete permeable brick, resin permeable brick
and sintered road permeable brick (Zhu et al., 2017). The study of
concrete permeable brick was carried out earlier in United States,
and a variety of permeable bricks with compressive strength were
developed. The Germany government stipulates that paving brick
used for top layer must be more than 10% of the pore so that
rainwater can seep into the ground (Zhang, 2014). Brattebo and
Booth (2003) found that the permeable brick had durable struc-
ture and exceptional waterproof effect, which alleviated flooding
issues in rainy days. With the development of sponge city,
permeable brick has gained an increasingly level of application in
urban construction. Therefore, it is necessary to compare the
environmental impact and economic impact of the permeable brick
with those of traditional paving materials. This assists the selection
of pavement materials to achieve the urban sustainability.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) considers the entire life cycle of a
product, from raw material extraction and acquisition, through
energy and material production and manufacturing (ISO 14040,
2006), to use and end of life treatment and final disposal (ISO
14044, 2006). Some scholars have examined the permeable pave-
ment and sintered brick by means of LCA. Flynn and Traver (2011)
evaluated the environmental impact of the whole process life cycle
of green infrastructure using LCA methodology, and it was
concluded that green infrastructure as a means of urban storm-
water management could achieve considerable environmental and
economic benefits. Kirk and EIT (2006) conducted a quantitative
balance analysis about the environmental, economic, social cost
and benefits of permeable pavement throughout the whole process
life cycle using LCA methodology, and made some suggestions to
improve the structure. Koroneos and Dompros (2007) analyzed the
production process of bricks using LCA approach, and found that
the environmental burden caused by the operation of brick in-
dustry mainly came from the exhaust emissions generated by using
199
fossil fuels. Giama and Papadopoulos (2015) analyzed the envi-
ronmental impacts of concrete and brick by using LCA, and found
that the environmental impacts could be reduced by using efficient
energy and raw materials. Mikul ci
c et al. (2016) suggested that
mathematical modelling, simulation, optimization and process
integration are increasingly important for cement plants. Souza
et al. (2016) utilized LCA to compare the life cycle of 3 kinds of
materials, i.e. ceramic brick, concrete brick and cast-in-place rein-
forced concrete wall. Their study found that the outer walls of
ceramic brick had less impact on the environment than concrete
brick and cast-in-place reinforced concrete wall. Kua and Kamath
(2014) explored the environmental impact of brick replacing con-
crete by means of LCA, concluding that the replacement of concrete
by bricks could significantly increase the environmental impact.
Kumar et al. (2016) analyzed the life cycle stages of building bricks
for overall environmental loads and found that the use of coal had
the greatest impact on human health, energy consumption, and the
environment. The extensive literature review shows that vast ma-
jority of previous studies focused on the LCA analysis of permeable
pavement, sintered brick and ceramic brick. In contrast, very few
studies attempted to examine the production process of permeable
brick and cement brick via LCA approach. In particular, there is lack
of studies applying LCA to compare the key processes of permeable
brick and cement brick in terms of cost and environmental impacts.
Based on the case of Jinan Shunde Cement Products Co. Ltd. this
study evaluated the production processes of permeable brick and
concrete pavement brick following the LCA approach. The envi-
ronmental and economic impacts of these two processes, as well as
the key nodes in the processes that have significant impact on the
environment and cost were analyzed. The corresponding sugges-
tions were proposed to optimize the key nodes. The improved key
nodes and processes are helpful to promote the development and
utilization of permeable brick. The scenario considering the
increased infiltration capacity of permeable brick was also designed
and discussed. The life cycle inventory of permeable brick process
was established. This study provides managerial and practical in-
sights for utilizing permeable brick in the sponge city development.
2. Methodology
2.1. Goal and scope definition
The aim of the present study is to determine the environmental
impact and the economic impact of concrete pavement brick and
permeable brick production. The functional unit is 1 m2 brick. All
inputs of raw materials, energy consumption, transportation, waste
and wastewater discharge were calculated using functional unit as
a baseline for the two kinds of brick production processes. The
potential rain infiltration capacity during the service stage of
permeable brick was also discussed. The system boundary was set
using the cradle-to-gate approach, i.e. only the production phase of
brick and the acquisition phase of raw materials were considered.
The bricks have no material inputs and pollutant discharge in the
service stage. Meanwhile, permeable brick has the same waste
treatment process with concrete pavement brick. Therefore, the
phase of use and waste disposal were not included in the system
boundary. Fig. 1 shows the LCA system boundary of concrete
pavement brick and permeable brick. The functional unit is the area
of 1 m2 brick products.
There is only one product for both brick production processes
examined in this study. Similarly, the recycled waste bricks were
not used for production and the service stage of the bricks is not
included in the boundary. Therefore, there is no data allocation
problem in this study. These two kinds of bricks have a number of
200 X. Yuan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018) 198e208

Raw materials and energy production

Crushed
Basalt Sand gravel Sand
powder Base Fabric Cement Cement Base Fabric Cement
Cement blending blending Iron oxide Water reducing blending blending Iron oxide
pigment agent pigment
Fresh water process process process process
Electricity Fresh water Fresh water Fresh water
Electricity Electricity Electricity

Particulate matter Particulate matter

Extrusion Extrusion
Electricity Particulate matter Electricity Particulate matter
process process

Cutting Cutting
Electricity Particulate matter Electricity Particulate matter
process process

Diesel Transport Diesel Transport

Electricity process Electricity process

Curing Curing
Fresh water Fresh water
process process

Concrete pavement brick Permeable brick

Fig. 1. System boundary of bricks for LCA.

raw materials and share the characteristics of dispersed time and
scattered origin. Therefore, it is assumed that the average trans-
portation distance is 50 km. In addition, the environmental impact
of infrastructure facilities and construction of brick factory for the
production of 1 m2 brick products is relatively small during the
long-term production process. Therefore, these factors are not
considered in this study.
and permeable brick. Most data of raw materials, energy input and
waste discharge were collected from the site investigation of
manufacturer. Water reducer is also called water reducing agent,
whose chemical constituents is the sodium salt of the sulfonate
formaldehyde condensation (Li, 2010).
The background data on materials and energy of two kinds of
bricks were derived from the database in Simapro 8.2.0.0 software
as well as literature (see Table 3).

2.2. Life-cycle inventory (LCI)

In this study, the production energy consumption of concrete
pavement brick and permeable brick as well as the relevant data of
all kinds of raw materials and energy input and exhaust emissions
are collected from Jinan Shunde Cement Products Co. Ltd. Shan-
dong Province.
Tables 1 and 2 show the data related to concrete pavement brick
2.3. LCIA and LCC methodology
This research adopted the ReCiPe midpoint assessment model to
undertake the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). As a multi-
parametric method, ReCiPe provides an integrated vision that
takes into account various environmental aspects when calculating
the impacts (De Feo and Ferrara, 2017). Compared with other

Table 1
LCI of concrete pavement brick production process.

Category Name Amount (1 m2 brick) Unit price Cost Data sources

Raw material transportation Diesel 2.22
101 L Literature (Wang, 2012)

Base blending Basalt powder 81.48 kg 0.08 RMB/kg 6.52 RMB Field investigation
Cement 14.81 kg 0.76 RMB/kg 11.18 RMB Field investigation
Fresh water 6.17 kg Field investigation
Fabric blending Sand 7.41 kg 0.06 RMB/kg 0.44 RMB Field investigation
Cement 6.17 kg 0.76 RMB/kg 4.66 RMB Field investigation
Fresh water 6.17
101 kg Field investigation
Iron oxide pigment 1.24
101 kg 5 RMB/kg 0.62 RMB Field investigation
Maintenance Fresh water 3.90 kg Field investigation
Energy consumption Electricity 8.11
101 kWhh 0.84 RMB/kWh 0.46 RMB Field investigation
Diesel 1.23
102 L 6.03 RMB/L 0.074RMB Field investigation
Exhaust emission Particulate matter 6.65
104 kg Monitoring analysis
Labor force 0.3 RMB Field investigation
Sum 24.26 RMB
 X. Yuan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018) 198e208 201

Table 2
LCI of permeable brick production process.

Category Name Amount (1 m2 brick) Unit price Cost Data sources

Raw material transportation Diesel 2.28
101 L Literature (Wang, 2012)

Base blending Crushed gravel 76.54 kg 0.04 RMB/kg 3.06 RMB Field investigation
Cement 20.99 kg 0.76RMB/kg 15.85 RMB Field investigation
Fresh water 6.17 kg Field investigation
Water reducer 3.09
101 kg 13 RMB/kg 4.01 RMB Field investigation
Fabric blending Sand 9.26 kg 0.05 RMB/kg 0.46 RMB Field investigation
Cement 6.17 kg 0.76 RMB/kg 4.66 RMB Field investigation
Fresh water 6.17
101 kg Field investigation
Iron oxide pigment 9.26
102 kg 5 RMB/kg 0.46 RMB Field investigation
Maintenance Fresh water 4.88 kg Field investigation
Energy consumption Electricity 9.12
101 kWhh 0.84 RMB/kWh 0.71 RMB Field investigation
Diesel 2.06
102 L 6.03 RMB/L 0.12 RMB Field investigation
Exhaust emission Particulate matter 5.88
104 kg Monitoring analysis
Labor force 0.34 RMB Field investigation
Sum 29.68 RMB

Table 3
Production background data sources.

Bricks Category of materials or energy Production background data source

Concrete pavement brick Cement Literature (Xu, 2013)

Basalt powder Ecoinvent 3 database
Sand Ecoinvent 3 database
Iron oxide pigment Ecoinvent 3 database
Diesel Literature (Xing et al., 2010)
Fresh water Ecoinvent 3 database
Permeable brick Cement Literature (Xu, 2013)
Crushed gravel Ecoinvent 3 database
Sand Ecoinvent 3 database
Iron oxide pigment Ecoinvent 3 database
Diesel Literature (Xing et al., 2010)
Fresh water Ecoinvent 3 database
Water reducer Literature (Li, 2010)

model, ReCiPe is the most widely used model in the field of LCA
analysis (Goedkoop et al., 2009), and the most reliable intermediate
point impact assessment method (Schryver et al., 2009). Sohn et al.
(2017) evaluated the life cycle environmental impact of the building
insulation level using the ReCiPe methodology. Bories et al. (2016)
analyzed the life cycle environmental impact of porous fired clay
bricks by ReCiPe. In this study, ReCiPe is more comprehensive and
can reflect the life cycle environmental impact of the two bricks
more accurately. The ReCiPe model includes 18 kinds of interme-
diate point impact categories, i.e. climate change, ozone depletion,
human toxicity, photochemical oxidant formation, particulate
matter formation, ionising radiation, terrestrial acidification,
freshwater eutrophication, marine eutrophication, terrestrial eco-
toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity, agricultural
land occupation, urban land occupation, natural land trans-
formation, water depletion, metal depletion and fossil depletion. In
ReCiPe endpoint (H) model, most of these midpoint impact cate-
gories are multiplied by damage factors and aggregated into 3
endpoint categories: human health, ecosystems and resource sur-
plus costs (Lamnatou et al., 2016). The endpoint categories are easy
to understand, however the results are too general for detailed
comparisons. The end point method is also associated with higher
level of uncertainty (Blankendaal et al., 2014). Therefore, ReCiPe
midpoint (H) model is applied in this study.
The economic impact of these two kinds of bricks production
processes is evaluated using the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) approach. LCC
is similar to LCA, but considers economic factors rather than envi-
ronmental factors in the whole life cycle analysis (Hong et al., 2015).
All the potential costs were taken into account including raw ma-
terial purchase, power consumption, worker salaries, and waste
disposal. Fig. 1 shows that raw materials and energy input are
purchased. These include basalt powder, crushed gravel, water
reducer, sand, cement, sand, iron oxide pigment, diesel, electricity
and so on. These belong to the cost sources and need to be taken
into account.
2.4. Life cycle interpretation
The interpretation in LCA was used to evaluate the findings of
either the inventory analysis or the impact assessment, or both, in
relation to the defined goal and scope in order to reach conclusions
and recommendations (ISO 14040, 2006). To identify the priority
for the optimization of key processes, variation of the results of the
LCIA in two brick production processes were analyzed. The sensi-
tivity analysis was carried out according to the principle of several
percent variation for input and output in the change of key pro-
cesses. Piao et al. (2016) changed the value of each inventory datum
by 10% of the raw values to calculate the sensitivity. Hence, a
sensitivity analysis following a one-at-a-time approach (Groen
et al., 2014) was conducted by varying beet sugar content by
±15% in order to understand its importance on the carbon foot-
prints of beet fermentable sugars and ethanol. In this research, the
sensitivity analysis was carried out according to the principle of 5%
variation for input and output in the change of key processes.
2.5. Optimization method
This study used the “3R” (reduce, reuse and recycle) principle,
which is generated from the circular economy theory, for the
optimization of two kinds of brick production processes. “Reduce”
202 X. Yuan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018) 198e208

requires less raw materials and energy inputs to achieve estab- Table 5
lished production goals or consumption goals. “Reuse” requires that Midpoint results of the LCIA normalization.

manufacturing products and packaging containers be reused in an Category Concrete pavement brick Permeable brick
initial form. “Recycle” requires that the product being produced can Climate change 2.80
103 3.65
103
be turned into a usable resource after completion of its use. Chiang Ozone depletion 1.04
105 1.35
105
et al. (2017) used the “3R” principle to optimize the results of the Terrestrial acidification 1.15
103 1.43
103
performance LCA of the hybrid car. Li et al. (2013) optimized the Freshwater eutrophication 1.43
103 2.41
103
Marine eutrophication 3.50
104 4.20
104
LCA in the study of the carbon efficiency of residential building
Human toxicity 3.70
103 5.40
103
during its life cycle. Based on “3R” principle, the corresponding Photochemical oxidant formation 1.14
103 1.36
103
suggestions for the process optimization of concrete brick and Particulate matter formation 1.56
103 1.60
103
permeable brick are proposed. Terrestrial ecotoxicity 5.91
105 7.02
105
Freshwater ecotoxicity 6.27
103 9.90
103
Marine ecotoxicity 1.05
102 1.61
102
3. Results Ionising radiation 1.80
104 2.28
104
Agricultural land occupation 9.42
106 1.41
105
Urban land occupation 9.04
104 1.19
104
3.1. LCIA results
Natural land transformation 3.31
103 1.82
104
Metal depletion 2.24
104 4.58
104
The result of midpoint impact assessment characterization is Fossil depletion 1.48
103 1.99
103
shown in Table 4. It shows that 18 environmental impact categories
of the ReCiPe model varied for both kinds of bricks. The influence of
permeable brick production process has the largest value for all 70.31%, 74.50%, 75.65%, 77.21% and 98.90% in the five major envi-
categories of environmental impact except urban land occupation ronmental impact categories of climate change: human toxicity,
and natural land transformation. freshwater ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity and natural land trans-
It is necessary to further analyze the contribution degree of each formation respectively. All the impacts were the biggest. For the
midpoint environmental impact category in order to examine the production process of permeable brick, the key processes that
overall environmental impact. Therefore, results of the midpoint influenced the environment most were base blending process and
environmental impact were normalized. The calculation results are fabric blending process, contributing to 82.90% and 13.97% of the
shown in Table 5 and Fig. 2. overall environmental impact load. The key process that had the
As shown in Fig. 2, the environmental impact of permeable brick largest environment impact is base blending process, which
production process was greater than that of concrete pavement accounted for 76.02%, 81.34%, 85.09%, 85.50% and 80.83% in the five
brick. The impact of two kinds of brick on environment was mainly major environmental impact categories.
concentrated on five environmental impact categories, i.e. climate
change, human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity 3.3. Identification of key materials
and natural land transformation. Permeable brick had a significant
impact on the other four environmental categories except natural In order to identify the key materials that cause the environ-
land transformation. Therefore, permeable brick had higher overall mental impacts in two kinds of brick production process, this study
environmental impacts than concrete pavement brick. analyzed the key materials of the overall environmental impact
load and the key process environment impact load, respectively.
3.2. Identification of key processes Tables 6 and 7 showed the analysis result of the key materials in the
overall environmental impact load and the key materials of each
As shown in Fig. 3, the key processes were base blending process key process, respectively.
and fabric blending process for concrete pavement brick. Their As shown in Table 6, basalt powder and cement in concrete
overall environmental impact load accounted for 78.13% and pavement brick accounted for a large proportion of the overall
18.01%, respectively. The key process that had the largest environ- environmental impact load, i.e., 46.65% and 44.20% respectively.
ment impact was base blending process, which accounted for The proportion of basalt powder in environmental impact load of

Table 4
Midpoint results of the LCIA characterization.

Category Unit Concrete pavement brick Permeable brick

Climate change kg CO2 eq 19.35 25.23

Ozone depletion kg CFC-11 eq 2.25
107 3.64
107
Terrestrial acidification kg SO2 eq 4.29
102 5.37
102
Freshwater eutrophication kg P eq 3.99
104 6.85
104
Marine eutrophication kg N eq 2.57
103 3.09
103
Human toxicity kg 1,4-DB eq 1.18 1.74
Photochemical oxidant formation kg NMVOC 6.41
102 7.66
102
Particulate matter formation kg PM10 eq 2.17
102 2.23
102
Terrestrial ecotoxicity kg 1,4-DB eq 3.36
104 4.05
104
Freshwater ecotoxicity kg 1,4-DB eq 2.62
102 4.19
102
Marine ecotoxicity kg 1,4-DB eq 2.50
102 3.91
102
Ionising radiation kBq U235 eq 1.76
101 2.48
101
Agricultural land occupation m2a 4.94
102 7.49
102
Urban land occupation m2a 6.99
101 9.06
102
Natural land transformation m2 3.95
102 1.89
103
Water depletion m3 3.15
102 7.04
102
Metal depletion kg Fe eq 9.56
102 2.00
101
Fossil depletion kg oil eq 1.84 2.56
 X. Yuan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018) 198e208 203

0.018
0.016
0.014
0.012
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0

Concrete pavement brick Permeable brick

Fig. 2. Normalization results at mid point.

Climate Human Freshwater Marine Natural land

change toxicity ecotoxicity ecotoxicity transformation
100%
90%
80%
70%
60% Raw material trasportation
50% Curing
40% Transportation
30% Cutting
20%
Extrusion
10%
Fabric blending
0%
Base blending

Fig. 3. Key process in terms of environmental impact.

Table 6
The proportion of environmental impact caused by different main materials of concrete pavement brick and permeable brick.

Impact category Unit Concrete pavement brick Permeable brick

Climate change kg CO2 eq Cement 88.97% þ basalt powder 6.84% Cement 88.38% þ crushed gravel 5.43%
Human toxicity kg 1,4-DB eq Cement 62.70% þ basalt powder 29.57% Cement 55.70% þ crushed gravel 27.46% þ water reducer 10.08%
Freshwater ecotoxicity kg 1,4-DB eq Basalt powder 45.15% þ cement 43.21% Crushed gravel 42.17% þ cement 35.43% þ water reducer 15.53%
Marine ecotoxicity kg 1,4-DB eq Basalt powder 49.41% þ cement 39.32% Crushed gravel 44.77% þ cement 33.02% þ water reducer 15.16%
Natural land transformation m2 Basalt powder 98.84% Crushed gravel 64.11% þ water reducer 15.21% þ diesel 13.59%
Normalized environmental impact load Basalt powder 46.65% þ cement 44.20% Cement 44.21% þ crushed gravel 35.81% þ water reducer 12.57%

five key environmental impact categories was high and cement climate change, human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity and marine
accounted for a high ratio in the environmental impact load of ecotoxicity. Therefore, basalt powder and cement were the key
204 X. Yuan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018) 198e208
Table 7
The proportion of key materials in the key processes of environmental impact.
Concrete pavement brick Base blending process
Environmental impact load Basalt powder 59.71% þ cement 39.93%
Permeable brick Base blending process
Environmental impact load Crushed gravel 43.19% þ cement 41.21% þ water reducer 15.16%
materials that cause the environmental impact of concrete pave-
ment brick production process.
Cement, crushed gravel and water reducer in permeable brick
accounted for 44.21%, 35.81% and 12.57% in the overall environ-
mental impact, respectively. Cement and crushed gravel accounted
for a high proportion in environmental impact load of five key
environmental impact categories. It can be observed that cement
and crushed gravel were the key material in terms of the envi-
ronmental impact of permeable brick production process.
Table 7 shows that basalt powder and cement were the key
materials that caused the environmental impact of base blending
process in concrete pavement brick production process, with the
environmental impact load of 59.71% and 39.93% respectively. For
the fabric blending process, the key materials were cement, sand
and iron oxide pigment, with the environmental impact load of
72.22%, 13.88% and 13.47% respectively. Crushed gravel, cement and
water reducer were the key materials that cause the environmental
impact of base blending process in permeable brick production
process, the proportion was 43.19%, 41.21% and 15.16%, respectively.
Cement, sand and iron oxide pigment were also the key materials
that cause the environmental impact in fabric blending process,
and the proportion was 72.22%, 13.88% and 13.47% respectively.
3.4. LCC results
The cost associated with the production processes of concrete
pavement brick and permeable brick mainly included two units:
base blending and fabric blending. As the fresh water used by Jinan
Shunde Cement Products Co. Ltd. was groundwater, there is no cost
for water extraction. However, electricity consumed to pump water
to ground was included in the cost of energy consumption.
The monthly salary was about 4500 RMB and 4000 RMB per
person for concrete pavement brick production and permeable
brick production. According to the production capacity, the labor
cost for producing 1 m2 concrete pavement brick and permeable
brick was about 0.3 RMB and 0.34 RMB, respectively.
As shown in Tables 1 and 2, the economic cost of producing 1 m2
concrete pavement brick and permeable brick was 24.26 RMB and
35
30
25
20
15
10
5 Concrete pavement brick
0 Basalt powder
Concrete pavement brick Permeable brick
Base blending Fabric blending Energy consumption Labor force
Fig. 4. The economic cost of each unit of two kinds of brick.
Fabric blending process
Cement 72.22% þ sand 13.88% þ iron oxide pigment 13.47%
Fabric blending process
Cement 71.91% þ sand 17.28% þ iron oxide pigment 10.10%
29.68 RMB respectively. The production cost of permeable brick
was 22.34% higher than concrete pavement brick.
Figs. 4 and 5 showed that the processes with maximal economic
cost for both concrete pavement brick and permeable brick were
base blending process, which accounted for 72.74% and 77.69%
respectively. The processes with the second largest economic cost
for both concrete pavement brick and permeable brick were fabric
blending process, which accounted for 23.49% and 18.95%,
respectively. Labor force and energy consumption had insignificant
impact on economic cost. The material with maximal economic
cost for both concrete pavement brick and permeable brick was
cement, which accounted for 65.30% and 68.99%, respectively. In
the material economic cost of concrete pavement brick production
process, the proportion of basalt powder consumed in base
blending process took the second place by 26.88%. In the material
economic cost of permeable brick production process, the propor-
tion of crushed gravel and water reducer consumed in the base
blending process accounted for 10.29% and 13.49% of the LCC,
respectively.
3.5. Integrated analysis of LCIA and LCC
It is necessary to analyze the LCIA and LCC comprehensively of
these two kinds of bricks. The integrated analysis results are shown
in Fig. 6. It showed that the process with the largest environmental
and economic costs was the base blending process in the produc-
tion process of concrete pavement brick. Similarly, the fabric
blending process had noticeable impact on environment and eco-
nomic cost. The impact of extrusion production, crop, transport and
maintenance on the environmental and economic cost was small,
and labor force has less impact on economic cost. Therefore, the
impact on environment and economic cost can be reduced effec-
tively by optimizing the base blending process. Improving fabric
blending process could also reduce the impact on environment and
economic cost, but the effect was not obvious compared with base
blending process. Base blending process had the most significant
impact for environment and economic cost among all the processes
for permeable brick production. The fabric blending process also
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Permeable brick
Cement Sand
Iron oxide pigment Electricity Diesel
Labor force Crushed gravel Water reducer
Fig. 5. The economic cost of each material of two kinds of brick.
 X. Yuan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018) 198e208 205

29.7
35
Labor force
Permeable brick 29.4
Others Transportation
30
Concrete pavement brick
29.1
Fabric blending process Extrusion
25
28.8
Maintenance
Economic cost RMB

Cutting
20 Bass blending process Others 28.5
0.736 0.738 0.74 0.742 0.744 0.746 0.748 0.75

15 Fabric blending process

Labor force
24.4
Transportation
10

24.1
Extrusion
5
Bass blending process 23.8
Maintenance
0
Cutting
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
23.5
Environmental impact 0.682 0.684 0.686 0.688 0.69 0.692

Fig. 6. Integrated analysis of LCIA and LCC of concrete pavement brick and permeable brick.

had significant impacts on environment and economic cost for
brick production. Other processes led to less environmental and
economic costs. Therefore, improving the base blending process
would be an effective approach in minimizing the environmental
and economic costs for production processes of both concrete
pavement brick and permeable brick.
3.6. Sensitivity analysis
Table 8 showed the results of sensitivity analysis of the main
contributors. In the production process of concrete pavement brick,
a 5% variation for the input and output data in the base blending
process caused the biggest change of five key environmental
impact categories and the overall environmental impact. The
changes were 0.68 kg CO2 eq, 4.5
102 kg 1,4-DB eq,
1.02
103 kg 1,4-DB eq, 9.94
104 kg 1,4-DB eq, 1.97
103 m2
and 1.37
103 for climate change, human toxicity, freshwater
ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity natural land transformation and the
overall environmental impact load, respectively. A 5% variation
about the input and output data in fabric blending process resulted
in the overall environmental impact of load variation 3.16
104.
Therefore, the priority should be assigned to base blending process
and fabric blending process for the optimization of key processes in
concrete pavement brick production.
During the permeable brick production process, a 5% variation
about the input and output data in the base blending process led to
the biggest change of five key environmental impact categories and
the overall environmental impact load. The changes were 0.96 kg
CO2 eq, 7.14
102 kg 1,4-DB eq, 1.82
103 kg 1,4-DB eq,
1.7
103 kg 1,4-DB eq, 8.85
105 m2 and 1.88
10e3 for climate
change, human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity,
natural land transformation and the overall environmental impact
load, respectively. A 5% variation about the input and output data in
the fabric blending process resulted in the overall environmental
impact of load variation 3.17
104. Therefore, the priority should
be assigned to base blending process and fabric blending process
for the optimization of key processes in permeable brick
production.
4. Discussion
4.1. Suggestions for concrete pavement brick
Sensitivity analysis for the key process of concrete pavement
brick showed that priority should be assigned to base blending
process and fabric blending process (see Fig. 7). As shown in Fig. 7,
the key material was basalt powder which caused the most envi-
ronmental impacts on the base blending process (see Fig. 7). Basalt
powder was the material input of base blending process. Its con-
sumption could be reduced by recycling discarded raw materials.

Table 8
Sensitivity analysis of key processes.

Concrete pavement brick Unit Base blending process (5% variation) Fabric blending process (5% variation)

Climate change kg CO2 eq 0.68 0.26

Human toxicity kg1,4-DB eq 4.5
102 1.3
102
Freshwater ecotoxicity kg1,4-DB eq 1.02
103 1.93
104
Marine ecotoxicity kg1,4-DB eq 9.94
104 2.56
104
Natural land Transformation m2 1.97
103 4.38
106
Overall Environmental impact load / 1.37
103 3.16
104

Permeable brick Unit Base blending processes (5% variation) Fabric blending process (5% variation)

Climate change kg CO2 eq 0.96 0.26

Human toxicity kg1,4-DB eq 7.14
102 1.33
102
Freshwater ecotoxicity kg1,4-DB eq 1.82
103 2.79
104
Marine ecotoxicity kg1,4-DB eq 1.7
103 2.54
104
Natural land Transformation m2 8.85
105 5.36
106
Overall Environmental impact load / 1.88
103 3.17
104
206 X. Yuan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018) 198e208

Basalt powder Cement Comprehensive utilization of waste

Fresh
water
Reduce
Fresh water
Base blending

Concrete
Extrusion Cutting Transport Curing
pavement brick

Fabric blending

Reduce
Sand Fresh Iron oxide
water pigment
Cement

Key process Key material Optimization scheme

Fig. 7. Optimization suggestion of concrete pavement brick production process.

The calculation result showed that if basalt powder consumption
was reduced by 5%, the overall environmental impact would be
reduced by about 2.33%, and the production cost would be reduced
by 3.26
101 RMB. Cement was the key material caused the major
environmental impact in base blending process and fabric blending
process (see Fig. 7). It was the material input in base blending
process which could be optimized by reducing the amount of use.
According to the calculation result, if cement consumption was
reduced by 5%, the overall environmental impact would be reduced
about 2.21%, and the production cost would be reduced by
7.95
101 RMB. If the comprehensive utilization rate of waste
concrete pavement brick was improved, the amount of the raw
materials consumption would be reduced significantly (Ferreira
et al., 2015). The environment impact of concrete pavement brick
production process would be further reduced with environmental
friendly material to replace the basalt powder and deceased con-
sumption of cement.
4.2. Suggestions for permeable brick
The results of sensitivity analysis for the key processes of
permeable brick showed that the priority should be assigned to
base blending process and fabric blending process. Fig. 8 showed
that cement was the key material caused the major environmental
impact in base blending process and fabric blending process.
Cement was material input of base blending process, which could
be optimized by reducing consumptions. The result of calculation
showed if cement consumption was reduced by 5%, the overall
environmental impact would be reduced about 2.21%, and the
production cost would be reduced by 1.02 RMB. Crushed gravel was
the key material which caused the most environmental impact in
base blending process. Crushed gravel could be optimized by the
recycling of raw materials since it belonged to the material input of
base blending process. The calculation results suggested that if the
crushed gravel consumption was reduced by 5%, the overall envi-
ronmental impact would be reduced by 1.79%, and the production
cost would be reduced by 0.15 RMB. If the comprehensive utiliza-
tion rate of waste permeable brick was improved, the amount of the
crushed gravel use would be reduced. In the existing production
process, the addition of water reducing agent has reduced the
amount of cement consumption (Li, 2010). It is an effective
approach to reduce the consumption of raw materials by increasing

Crushed gravel Cement Comprehensive utilization of waste

Water Fresh
reducer water
Reduce
Fresh water
Base blending

Concrete
Extrusion Cutting Transport Curing
pavement brick

Fabric blending

Reduce
Sand Fresh Iron oxide
water pigment
Cement

Key process Key material Optimization scheme

Fig. 8. Optimization suggestion of permeable brick production process.

 X. Yuan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018) 198e208
the utilization of waste permeable bricks (Ferreira et al., 2015).
4.3. The benefits of permeable brick during the operation stage
System boundary of this study was cradle-to-gate. The envi-
ronmental impact in the service stage and waste treatment stage of
concrete pavement brick and permeable brick were not considered.
However, compared with concrete pavement brick, permeable
brick had comprehensive benefits in the service stage.
The surface hardening construction of facilities on roof, road and
ground resulted in 70%e80% rainfall formed the runoff and less
rainfall could seep into the underground (Wu et al., 2016). Via
enhanced permeability function, permeable brick help rainwater
seeping into underground and recharge groundwater. The perme-
able coefficient of permeable brick in this research was 1.8
102.
The annual average precipitation in Jinan City is 671.1 mm (China
Weather Net, 2017). During 3 years’ service period of permeable
brick, a rainfall infiltration capacity of 2.01 m3 can be formed by
1 m2 permeable brick. According to the Technical Guidelines for the
Construction of Sponge City (MOHURD, 2016b), permeable brick
would make rainwater infiltrate to underground as much as
possible. Alternatively the rainwater would be stored in water
reservoirs. The pavement of permeable brick could increase
groundwater recharge, reduce fresh water consumption, reduce
rivers water pollution caused by stormwater runoff and relieve the
load impact of sewage treatment plant caused by the rainwater
flowing into the sewage pipe. The use of permeable brick could also
reduce rainwater emissions to the municipal pipe network, reduce
the pressure of drainage and the maintenance cost of municipal
pipe network. Furthermore, there are a number of benefits by using
permeable brick such as reducing rainwater discharge flow in the
catchment area, reducing the pressure of flood discharge in river
courses, and saving the cost of river treatment and management.
The brick factory examined in this study is located in Jinan,
Shandong Province. Jinan is known as the City of Spring. There are
808 springs in total, and 72 famous springs. In recent years,
groundwater recharge reduced gradually in Jinan. There is growing
level of pressure to save water so that springs can be protected.
Paving permeable brick in Jinan could play the role in promoting
infiltration and protecting springs. This has special significance in
maintaining the urban landscape and the spring culture. Jinan city
is featured with high density. Urban waterlogging is easy to take
place during the rainy season. Urban waterlogging has significant
social and economic implications. In some extreme cases, this
problem may even threaten people’s life. The permeable brick
forms an integral part of permeable pavement system. Its pore
permeability is beneficial to reduce the runoff of urban rainwater
and also has significant social benefits.
5. Conclusions
LCA method is employed in this study to analyze and compare
the environmental impact of concrete pavement brick and
permeable brick in the system boundary of cradle-to-gate. The
traceability thought was put forward to identify the key processes
and the key materials in terms of environmental impact. The
identification of key processes and key materials is beneficial to
highlight key nodes for achieving cleaner production. According to
the results of sensitivity analysis, the priority for key process
optimization was determined, and the corresponding suggestions
were proposed for the optimization of production processes.
Within the system boundary, permeable brick had higher
environmental impacts than concrete pavement brick. The base
blending process and fabric blending process were the key pro-
cesses of permeable brick and concrete pavement brick. The key
207
materials in concrete pavement brick were basalt powder and
cement, whilst the key materials in permeable brick were found to
be cement and crushed gravel. The result of LCC showed that the
base blending process in permeable brick and concrete pavement
brick occupied the highest proportion in the cost, which accounted
for 78.13% and 82.90%, respectively. Less consumption of cement,
higher recycle rate of basalt powder and crushed gravel could
reduce the environmental impacts and production cost of the
whole process effectively. In concrete pavement brick, if basalt
powder consumption and cement consumption was reduced by 5%,
the overall environmental impact would be reduced by 2.33% and
2.21%, and the production cost would be reduced by 3.26
101
RMB and 7.95
101 RMB, respectively. In permeable brick, if the
consumption of cement and crushed gravel was reduced by 5%, the
overall environmental impact would be reduced about 2.21% and
1.79%, and the production cost would be reduced by 1.02 RMB and
0.15 RMB, respectively.
Through the integrated analysis of LCA and LCC, the base
blending process contributed to most economic costs and envi-
ronmental impact for both kinds of bricks. The detailed analysis of
permeable brick and concrete pavement brick production process
showed that massive amount of cement was used in the current
processes and the material recycle rate was very low. From this
perspective, it is an important approach to reduce the environ-
mental impact by increasing the material recycle rate. In addition,
by using additives to reduce the amount of cement it’s expected to
reduce the economic costs and environmental impact. Further-
more, considering the permeability function of permeable brick, it
would form a rainfall infiltration capacity of 2.01 m3 in its life cycle.
The case study was carried out in the “Spring City” of Jinan.
Compared with concrete pavement brick, the pavement of
permeable brick would bring extra benefits for protecting the
springs.
Acknowledgments
This research is supported by the National Key R&D Plan
(2017YFC0703100), National Natural Science Foundation
(41471461), and the Fundamental Research Funds of Shandong
University (2015JC056).
References
AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials),
1993. Guide for Design of Pavement Structures. http://www.
huntstaylorcreekcontractors.com/wp-content/uploads/Geotech-report-21.pdf.
Benedetto, A., 2002. A decision support system for the safety of airport runways:
the case of heavy rainstorms. Transp. Res. A-Pol 36, 665e682.
Blankendaal, T., Schuur, P., Voordijk, H., 2014. Reducing the environmental impact of
concrete and asphalt: a scenario approach. J. Clean. Prod. 66, 27e36.
Bories, C., Guzman Barrera, N.I., Peydecastaing, J., Etxeberria, I., Vedrenne, E.,
Garcia, C.V., Thiebaud-Roux, S., Sablayrolles, C., 2016. Development of porous
fired clay bricks with bio-based additives: study of the environmental impacts
by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Conster. Build. Mater 125, 1142e1151.
Brattebo, B.O., Booth, D.B., 2003. Long-term stormwater quantity and quality per-
formance of permeable pavement systems. Water. Res. 37 (1), 4369e4376.
Chiang, Y.H., Sean, W.Y., Wu, C.H., Huang, C.Y., 2017. Development of a converter less
energy management system for reusing automotive lithium-ion battery applied
in smart-grid balancing. J. Clean. Prod. 156, 750e756.
China Weather Net, 2017. Jinan Climate Background Analysis. http://www.weather.
com.cn/cityintro/101120101.shtml (Accessed 20 May 2017).
Collins, K.A., Hathaway, J.M., 2007. Hydrologic and water quality comparison of four
types of different types of permeable pavement and standard asphalt in Eastern
North Carolina. Hydrol. Eng.
Collins, K.A., Hunt, W.F., Hathaway, J.M., 2006. Evaluation of various types of
permeable pavement with respect to water quality improvement and flood
control. In: 8th International Conference on Concrete Block Paving. November
6-8, 2006, San Francisco, California USA.
De Feo, G., Ferrara, C., 2017. A procedure for evaluating the most environmentally
sound alternative between two on-site small-scale wastewater treatment sys-
tems. J. Clean. Prod. 164, 124e136.
208 X. Yuan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 171 (2018) 198e208
Ferreira, W.L., Reis, L.E, Lima, R.M.F., 2015. Incorporation of residues from the
minero-metallurgical industry in the production of clay-lime brick. J. Clean.
Prod. 87, 505e510.
Flynn, K.M., Traver, P., 2011. Evaluation of Green Infrustructure Practices Using Life
Cycle Assessment. http://www3.villvnova.edu/VUSP/ (Accessed 12 December
2016).
Giama, E., Papadopoulos, A.M., 2015. Assessment tools for the environmental
evaluation of concrete, plaster and brick elements production. J. Clean. Prod. 99,
75e85.
Goedkoop, M.J., Heijungs, R., Huijbregts, M.A.J., Schryver, A.D., Struijs, J., Zelm, R.V.,
2009. ReCiPe 2008: a Life Cycle Impact Assessment Method Which Comprises
Harmonised Category Indicators at the Midpoint and the Endpoint Level. Report
I: Characterisation, first ed.. http://www.pre-sustainability.com/reports.
Groen, E.A., Heijungs, R., Bokkers, E.A.M., Boer, I.J.M., 2014. Sensitivity analysis in life
cycle assessment. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Life
Cycle Assessment in the Agri-food Sector. ACLCA, Vashon, pp. 482e488, 2014.
Hong, J., Zhou, J., Hong, J., 2015. Environmental and economic impact of furfur-
alcohol production using corncob as a raw material. Int. J. Life. Cycle. Assess. 20
(5), 1e9.
ISO 14040, 2006. International Standard. Environmental Management-life Cycle
Assessment Principles and Framework. http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/
catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber¼37456 (Accessed 22 January
2017).
ISO 14044, 2006. Environmental management Life cycle assessment Requirements
and guidelines. https://www.iso.org/standard/38498.html (Accessed 22 January
2017).
Kirk, B., EIT, M.S., 2006. Low Impact Design through the Life-cycle Lens Stormwater
Strategies for Pittsburgh’s Urban Ecology Collaborative. http://www.uvm.edu/
~ran/rankirk/RAN_LID_LCA_UEC_Seminar_(B_Kirk_10_2008).pdf.
Koroneos, C., Dompros, A., 2007. Environmental assessment of brick production in
Greece. Build. Environ. 42 (5), 2114e2123.
Kua, H.W., Kamath, S., 2014. An attributional and consequential life cycle assess-
ment of substituting concrete with bricks. J. Clean. Prod. 81, 190e200.
Kumar, C.P.S., Parvathi, S., Rudramoorthy, R., 2016. Impact categories through life
cycle assessment of coal-fired brick. Procedia. Tech. 24, 531e537.
Lamnatou, C., Ezcurra-Ciaurriz, X., Chemisana, D., Pla -Aragones, L.M., 2016. Envi-
ronmental assessment of a pork-production system in North-East of Spain
focusing on life-cycle swine nutrition. J. Clean. Prod. 137, 105e115.
Legret, M., Colandini, V., 1999. Effects of a porous pavement with reservoir structure
on runoff water: water quality and fate of heavy metals. Water. Sci. Technol. 39
(2), 111e117.
Legret, M., Colandini, V., Marc, C.L., 1996. Effects of a porous pavement with
reservoir structure on the quality of runoff water and soil. Sci. Total. Environ.
189e190, 335e340.
Li, D.Z., Chen, H.X., Hui, E.C.M., Zhang, J.B., Li, Q.M., 2013. A methodology for esti-
mating the life-cycle carbon efficiency of a residential building. Build. Environ.
59, 448e455.
Li, P.P., 2010. The synthetic analysis and application of naphthalene sulfonate
formaldehyde condensation product. Qingdao Univ. Sci. Technol. original title in
Chinese.
Mikul ci
c, H., Klemes, J.J., Vujanovi
c, M., Urbaniec, K., Dui c, N., 2016. Reducing
greenhouse gasses emissions by fostering the deployment of alternative raw
materials and energy sources in the cleaner cement manufacturing process.
J. Clean. Prod. 136, 119e132.
Milliman, J.D., Farnsworth, K.L., Jones, P.D., Xu, K.H., Smith, L.C., 2000. Climatic and
anthropogenic factors affecting river discharge to the global ocean, 1951-2000.
Glob. Planet. Chang. 62, 187e194.
MOHURD (Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development), 2014. Technical
Guidelines for the Construction of Sponge City: Low Impact Development of
Rainwater System Construction (Trial). http://www.mohurd.gov.cn/wjfb/
201411/t20141102_219465.html (Accessed 22 October 2016).
MOHURD (Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development), 2016a. 2015 sponge
City Pilot City List Announcement. http://jjs.mof.gov.cn/zhengwuxinxi/
tongzhigonggao/201504/t20150402_1211 835.html (Accessed 25 February
2017).
MOHURD (Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development), 2016b. The Notice
of TheCentral Government’s Financial Support for the Pilot Project of the
Sponge City Construction. http://www.mohurd.gov.cn/wjfb/201603/
t20160302_226802.html (Accessed 25 February 2017).
MWR (Ministry of Water Resources), 2012. China Water Resource Report, 2013.
http://www.mwr.gov.cn/zwzc/hygb/szygb/qgszygb/201405/t20140513_560838.
html (Accessed 15 December 2016).
Nakayamaa, T., Fujita, T., 2010. Cooling effect of water-holding pavements made of
new materials on water and heat budgets in urban areas. Landsc. Urban. Plan.
96 (2), 57e67.
Newman, A.P., Puehmeier, T., Kwok, V., Lam, M., Coupe, S.J., Shuttleworth, A.,
Pratt, C.J., 2004. Protecting groundwater with oil-retaining Pervious Pavements:
historical perspectives, limitations and recent development. Q. J. Eng. Geol.
Hydro 37 (4), 283e291.
Piao, W., Kim, Y.J., Kim, H., Kim, M., Kim, C., 2016. Life cycle assessment and eco-
nomic efficiency analysis of integrated management of wastewater treatment
plants. J. Clean. Prod. 113, 325e337.
Pratt, C.J., 1995. A review of source control of urban storm water runoff. J. Chart. Inst.
Water. E. 9 (2), 132e139.
Pratt, C.J., 1999. Use of permeable, reservoir pavement constructions for storm
water treatment and storage for re-use. J. Chart. Inst. Water. E. 39 (5), 145e151.
Rancher, J., 1995. Impacts of porous pavements on the hydraulic behavious and the
cleaning of water. Tech. Sci. Methodes 39, 147e158.
Shaekel, B., Ball, J., Mearing, M., 2003. Using permeable Eco-paving to achieve
improved water Qualit for urban pavement. In: Proceedings of the 7th Inter-
national Conference on Conerete Bloek Paving (Pave Africa 2003).
Shao, W., Zhang, H., Liu, J., Yang, G., Chen, X., Yang, Z., Huang, H., 2016. Data inte-
gration and its application in the sponge city construction of China. Procedia.
Eng. 154, 779e786.
Schluter, W., Jefferies, C., 2002. Modelling the outflow from a porous pavement.
Urban. Water. J. 4 (3), 245e253.
Schryver, A.M.D., Brakkee, K.W., Goedkoop, M.J., Huijbregts, M.A.J., 2009. Charac-
terization factors for global warming in life cycle assessment based on damages
to humans and ecosystems. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43, 1689e1695.
Sohn, J.L., Kalbar, P.P., Birkved, M., 2017. Life cycle based dynamic assessment
coupled with multiple criteria decision analysis: a case study of determining an
optimal building insulation level. J. Clean. Prod. 162, 449e457.
Souza, D.M.D., Lafontaine, M., Charron-Doucet, F., Chappert, B., Kicak, K., Duarte, F.,
Lima, L., 2016. Comparative life cycle assessment of ceramic brick, concrete
brick and cast-in-place reinforced concrete exterior walls. J. Clean. Prod. 137,
70e82.
Tang, X.Y., Wang, R.S., Song, Y.Q., 2005. Current situation and some suggestion on
Ecological problems of typical cities in China. Land. Resour. 5, 21e26 original
title in Chinese.
Wang, B., 2012. The research about Shenzhen city construction waste processing
mode based on life cycle assessment. Huazhong Univ. Sci. Technol. original title
in Chinese.
Wang, H., 2011. The Water Resource Problem and the Scientific Approach, a Report
on 13th Conference of China Association for Science and Technology. http://zt.
cast.org.cn/n435777/n435799/n13215955/n13216711/13324916.html (Accessed
21 November 2016).
Winston, R.J., Al-Rubaei, A.M., Blecken, G.T., Viklander, M., Hunt, W.F., 2016. Main-
tenance measures for preservation and recovery of permeable pavement sur-
face infiltration rate. J. Environ. Manage 169, 132e144.
Wu, D.J., Zhan, S.Z., Li, A.H., Tu, M.Z., Zheng, J.Y., Guo, Y.Y., Peng, H.Y., 2016. The
trends and practice research of Chinese characteristic sponge city. Urban. Reg.
Dev. 01, 79e97 original title in Chinese.
Xing, A.H., Ma, J., Zhang, Y.H., Wang, Y., Jin, Y., 2010. Full Life Cycle Assessment of
Biodiesel Environmental Impact. J. Tsinghua Univ. 50 (6), 917e922 original title
in Chinese.
Xu, X.N., 2013. Life cycle assessment of China’s cement industry. Dalian Univ.
Technol. original title in Chinese.
Yu, Y., 1999. Green concrete (Concrete material). Concr. Eng. 32 (11), 64e69 original
title in Japanese.
Zhang, A.J., 2014. The study on the structural type and related performance of
Beijing urban drainage trails. Beijing Munic. Eng. Inst. original title in Chinese.
Zhu, M., Wang, H., Liu, L.L., Ji, R., Wang, X., 2017. Preparation and characterization of
permeable bricks from gangue and tailings. Constr. Build. Mater. 148, 484e491.