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Recycled concrete Blocks-Ecofriendly and cost effective solution for masonry

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Journal of Seybold Report ISSN NO: 1533-9211

Recycled concrete Blocks- Ecofriendly and cost effective

solution for masonry construction
Ganesh C. Chikute¹ and Dr. I. P. Sonar²

¹Ph.D. Student (College of Engineering Pune (C.O.E.P.), India, chikute.ganesh@gmail.com

²Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Pune, Government of
Maharashtra, India, ips.civil@coep.ac.in

ABSTRACT:
India has established itself as fast growing Economies. Construction Industry is second
largest Industry after Agriculture. Investment in construction sector is nearly 11 % of
GDP and it is estimated that about 239.68 billion will be the investment in Construction
sector over next 5 years. Rapid Urbanization, population needs optimization of land and
change in trends of construction demands demolition of existing structure to construct
new highrises buildings. Hence there is huge amount of Construction and Demolition
waste is generated every year. Concrete is one of the major construction demolition
waste which have high reproductively value, it is now a days just use as filling material
which not only losses it value but also have environmental issue.
In reusing of concrete demolished waste major problem is to proper breaking of such
concrete which required high effort. The compressive strength required for masonry
blocks used for construction masonry walls is very much less, hence concrete blocks can
be casted from recycled concrete with courser recycled concrete particles, which
reduces the effort for crushing of demolished concrete, satisfy structural requirements
and ecofriendly solution.
Present work addresses casting, testing and compare the performance of Recycled
concrete masonry blocks. This recycled concrete block was used by author in Gabion
wall by replacing conventional stone to modify Gabion wall, which the one of the
objective of his PhD research.
Keywords: - Construction and Demolition Waste, Recycled masonry block

INTRODUCTION
Total generation of MSW in India is estimated 100,000 MT [2], in Maharashtra state it
is 22,570 TPD [1] and in Pune MSW is estimated 1,175 TPD, 0.46 Kg/person/day as per
2001 census [2]. Out of total MSW generated in India, construction demolition waste is
about 25% [5].
Activities which generate C & D waste in cities / towns are mainly from:
i. Demolition of existing, old dilapidated structures.
ii. Renovation of existing buildings (residential or commercial).
iii. Construction of new buildings (residential or commercial or hotel etc.).
iv. Excavation/ reconstruction of asphalt/ concrete roads.
v. Construction of new fly over bridges/ under bridges/ sub-ways etc.
vi. Renovation/ Installation of new water/ telephone/ internet/ sewer pipe lines etc.
vii. Present collection and disposal system

Estimation C&D waste generated in project specific as follows [5]:

a. Range 40-60 kg per sq.m of new construction,
b. Range 40-50 kg per sq.m of building repair,

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c. Range 300-500 kg per sq.m for demolition of buildings

Construction demolition waste generated in major cities of India are shown in Table-1
Table 1- C & D waste generation in NINE cities [5]
Sr. City C & D waste generated
No. Tones per Days
1 Chennai 2500
2 Coimbator 92
3 Bengaluru 875
4 Mumbai 2500
5 Ahmadabad 700
6 Patna 250
7 Jaipur 200
8 Bhopal 50
9 Kolkata 1600

The proportion of various materials in construction demolition waste is shown Table-2

Table 2- Typical composition of Indian C & D waste (TIFAC, 2001) [5]

SR. Material Composition %
NO
1 Soil, Sand & Gravel 36
2 Brick & Masonry 31
3 Concrete 23
4 Metals 5
5 Bitumen 2
6 Wood 2
7 Others 1

In India approximately 25-30 MT/Year of C & D wastes is generated annually out of

which the concrete estimated as 23 to 35% of total waste. Considering 30% percent of C
& D wastes of 12 million tonnes as concrete, and 50% of the concrete as coarse
aggregate, the total available recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) in India is of the order
of 1.8 million tonnes annually. The present way of disposal of such huge C&D waste is
to dump on open area or in landfill which is increasing the burden on landfill.

Fig 1- C & D wastes along roadsides

As per CPCB status report 2014-15 in Maharashtra only 6 landfills are constructed and
165 site locations are identified [2]. The overall status Table-3 shows that only 95
landfills are constructed across India and 1285 landfill sites are identified. As there very
less landfills are in India, dumping of C&D waste in such landfills increases the burden

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on landfills and creates environmental problems. Hence such C&D should not be dump
in landfills; it should be recycled and reused.

Table 3- Overall status of municipal waste management status in 2013-2014 [3]

Sr. Method solid management Details
No.
1 House to-house collection(done partially) 18 States
2 Segregation(done partially) 5 States
3 Landfill sites identified 1285
4 Landfill sites constructed 95
5 Compost/Vermi-compost facilities operational 553 ULBs
6 Under construction compost/vermi compost facilities 173 ULBs
7 Pipe composting 7000 in Kerala
8 RDF/Pellet facilities 12 Nos.
9 Biogas Plant 645 Nos (600 in Kerala)
10 Energy Generation Plant 06
11 Waste Generation 1,41,064 TPD
12 Waste Collected 1,27,531 TPD(90%)
13 Waste processed 34,752 TPD (27%)
14 Land llable waste 4,515 TPD

Central pollution control board, Government of India has make strict rule 2016 [5] on
recycle and reuse of C&D waste to a. promote an integrated approach, whereby
environmental management of construction and demolition waste is given due
consideration throughout the duration of the project. b. approach towards reduction of
environmental impacts.

PRESENT METHOD OF RECYCLING AND REUSING OF C&D WASTE

1. Concrete waste as a cement replacement material in concrete blocks [6]
Recycled concrete was crushed and fine particles are separated. These fine particles are
further crushed to form powder. This power is used as replacement to cement.
The percentage of cement replaced by recycled concrete powder is varying from 0 to 15
%.
2. Concrete waste as fine aggregate replacement [7]
Recycled concrete was crushed and fine particles are separated. The finer particle
generally contains fine aggregate, which used to replace natural fine aggregate from
concrete.
3. Using Fine Recycled Concrete Aggregate for Mortar Production [8]
In this, performance of mortars in which recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) was
tested. It replaced natural sand but kept the same particle size distribution. Varying
percentages of RCA Fine aggregate are tested. Study shows that 20 % fine aggregate
replaced by RCA shows better results.

4. Reuse of waste clay brick [9]

Brick waste is accounted of 31 % of total C&D waste. The application of WCB as
recyclable course and fine aggregate in concrete and mortar, as well as raw material in
the production of recyclable cement.

Reuse of recycled concrete is mainly focused on structural concrete, which having

following disadvantages
a. Production Higher grade concrete from recycled aggregate is very difficult.
b. Water absorption of recycled aggregate is high that natural aggregate.

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c. As for producing higher grade of concrete required recycled aggregate of small

size. To make small size aggregate from recycled concrete requires high amount
of energy.
But there are certain applications of concrete where high grade of concrete is not
required and large size of aggregate may be accommodated. These are use of such
recycled concrete for production of Dividers, paving block or even in masonry block.
As per Table 4 calculated maximum stress coming of block is 0.24 N/mm2. This shows
that concrete grade required for masonry block especially used for partition wall may
sufficient up to M5. Hence use can use the recycled concrete with lesser effort and
process to produce masonry blocks.
Table 4- Calculation of Maximum stress on block for various size, density and heights.

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METHODOLOGY

Flowchart

Collection of Concrete Waste Conclusions

Crushing of Concrete Waste Comparisons

Results
Concrete Mix Design

Testing
Casting

Curing
Fig 2- flow chart

CONCRETE DEMOLISHED WASTE BLOCKS FOR GABION WALL-

In Gabion wall Voids is very high and due irregular shapes and size of stone
there is rearrangement of stones under loading which leads to lateral deformation and
bulging of Gabion mesh. Use of regular shape concrete block made from concrete
demolished waste will be the effective, ecofriendly and economical option to replace
conventional stones filling of Gabion box.
The maximum stress (for 10m high wall) on concrete bottommost block by self-weight
and due backfill soil is 0.24 Mpa, which is very less and hence selection of M10 grade
of concrete is just sufficient for making concrete blocks in Gabion wall. Mix design as
per IS 10262:1982 [10].
Characteristic strength of concrete (fck) = 10 MPa.
Targeted strength of concrete (ft) = fck + 1.65 ɕ
Where ( ɕ ) is standard deviation = 3.5 for M10 Grade of concrete.
Targeted strength of concrete (ft) = 15.775 say 16 MPa.

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Trial Mix-
For producing of Recycled aggregate concrete tested concrete block of about 45 days
age are used. These blocks are crushed manually and sieved. Different sizes of
aggregate are received from crushing of old concrete is shown in Table 5 and Fig. 3.

Table 5- Different sizes of aggregate received from crushing of old concrete.

Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Passing - Retained 40-25 25-20 20-16 16-12.5 12.5-6.3 6.3-4.75 Less than
sieve size in mm 4.75

Fig. 3 Different sizes of recycled aggregate.

In this work 100% natural coarse aggregates (CA) and fine aggregates (FA) are replaced
by recycled aggregate. Aggregate portion of crushed concrete passing IS sieve 4.75 mm
is used as fine aggregate and aggregate portion of crushed concrete from size range 40
mm to 4.75 mm is used as coarse aggregate. There are following trials as shown in
Table 6 are taken by varying the percentage of different sizes of Coarse aggregates.

Table 6- Coarse aggregate percentage used for trial mixes.

Passing-Retained Trial- 1 Trial- 2 Trial- 3 Trial- 4
Sieve size (mm) Percentage Percentage Percentage Percentage
40-25 5% - - -
25-20 20 % 10 % 15 % -
20-16 25 % 25 % 35 % -
16-12.5 25 % 25 % 30 % 40 %
12.5-6.3 15 % 20 % 15 % 40 %
6.3-4.75 10 % 20 % 5% 20 %
Trials mixes as shown in Table 6 are dry mixed along with fine aggregate (Aggregate
portion of crushed concrete passing 4.75 mm IS sieve), then mixed with water. Trial
mixes 1, 2, 3 shows separation of bigger size aggregates and honeycombing in concrete,
hence bigger size of aggregates are removed and Trial mix 4 is finalize based on
observations of mixing of concrete. Concrete cubes of size 150x150x150 mm are casted
and compressive strength is tested for all above four Trial mixes. Average compressive
strength of all four Trial mixes is shown in Table 7.

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Table 7- Compressive strength of different Trial mixes.

Trial No Trial- 1 Trial- 2 Trial- 3 Trial- 4
Average 28 Days compressive 21.42 19.78 18.72 19.28
strength (MPa)
As per Table 7 compressive strength of Trial- 4 is 19.28 MPa. It is not maximum
compressive strength out of all four Trials but there is no very large difference between
maximum compressive strength (21.42 MPa) and compressive strength of Trial mix- 4
(19.28 MPa). Trial- 4 shows homogeneous mix without honeycombing, which not
shows in Trial mix 1, 2, & 3, hence Trial mix- 4 is finalize for casting of masonry
blocks.
In this study fiber of empty cement bags as shown Fig. 4 is also used to know the effect
of such fiber on strength of concrete. The length of fiber is about 50 mm and it is taken
0.5 % by the weight of cement. Per cubic meter material requirement for Trial- 4 is
shown in Table 8.
Table 8- Per cubic meter material for selected mix-4
Cement Fly ash Fine Aggregate Coarse Aggregate
226.6 kgs 37.7 kgs 805.9 kgs 1259.2 kgs
Concrete grade- M10
Proportion- 1 : 3.5 : 5.5

Fig. 4 Cement bag fiber

Various tests conducted on Concrete-
1. Compressive strength-
The cubical specimen of size 150 X 150 X 150 mm is used for test. The specimen is
tested on compressive testing machine (CTM) and the loading is applied gradually at
140kg/cm2/min. The maximum load at which cube breaks is noted down and
compressive strength is calculated by formula (P/A), where P is maximum load at
failure and A is area of cube.

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Fig. 9 Compression test on Concrete cube

2. Split tensile strength-
The specimen used for this test is cylinder having diameter 150mm & length 300mm.
The specimen is placed on CTM between two wooden pieces. The maximum load at
which cylinder breaks is noted down and tensile strength is calculated by formula
(2P/πDL), where P is maximum load at failure, D is diameter and L is length of
cylinder.

Fig. 10 Split tensile strength on cylinder

3. Flexural strength-
The specimen used for this test is beam of size 150 X 150 X 700mm. In this test two
points loading is applied on beam with the help of flexural testing machine. The
maximum load at which beam breaks is noted down and flexural strength is calculated
by formula
When a > 20cm, for 15cm specimen, Flexural strength of concrete (Fb) = (PL/bd2)
When 17cm < a >20cm, for 15cm specimen, Flexural strength of concrete (Fb) =
(3Pa/bd2)
Where, a = the distance between the line of fracture and the nearer support, measured on
the tensile side of the specimen (top side). b = Width of the specimen (cm) d = Failure
point depth (cm). L = Supported length (cm). P = Failure load (N)

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Fig. 11 Flexural strength on beam

TESTS RESULTS-
Table 9- Compression strength
Age of Concrete Types of Concrete Average strength (MPa)
7 Days Without fibre 12.48
With fibre 9.07
28 Days Without fibre 24.66
With fibre 18.38
Table 10- Split tensile strength
Age of Concrete Types of Concrete Average strength (MPa)
7 Days Without fibre 1.48
With fibre 0.58
28 Days Without fibre 2.92
With fibre 1.65
Table 11- Flexural strength
Age of Concrete Types of Concrete Average strength (MPa)
7 Days Without fibre 1.89
With fibre 1.33
28 Days Without fibre 3.44
With fibre 2.84

CONCLUSION-
Trial mix- 1 without fibre show maximum compressive, tensile and flexural strength.
For concrete with fibre there is no any increment in strength is observed. This may be
due to more length of fibre and more percentage of fibre. Strength may get increase for
fibre of length less than 2 cm and percentage less than 0.3 %.
Trial mix- 4 shows comparative good test results as compare with other trial mixes and
homogeneous mix with no honeycombing and good finish Trial Mix- 4 is selected for
casting of masonry blocks to be use in Gabion wall.
Use of large size of aggregate leads to segregation and honey combing. Size of
aggregate use in selected trial mix is less than 16mm.
As demolished concrete is generally available freely only transportation and crushing

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cost is there for producing concrete from such waste, it is somewhat economical than
conventional natural aggregate concrete.
Above test results shows that masonry blocks from recycled concrete is one best option
not only economical point of view, but also environmental point of view also.

REFERENCES
1. ‘Municipal Solid Waste Annual Report 2014-15’, published by Central pollution Control Board,
Government of India
2. ‘Management of Municipal Solid Waste’ status report published by Central pollution Control Board,
Government of India.
3. Central Pollution Control Board Bulletin VOL.-I, JULY 2016
4. Management of construction and demolition waste was covered under Municipal Solid Waste Rules
2000 Published by Central pollution Control Board, Government of India 2000.
5. ‘Guidelines on environmental management of construction & demolition (c & d) wastes’, Rule 10
sub-rule 1(a) of C & D Waste Management Rules, 2016 Published by Central pollution Control
Board, Government of India 2017.
6. M.S. Rosman, N.F. Abas, M.A. Othuman Mydin,[2014] ‘Concrete Waste as a Cement Replacement
Material in Concrete Blocks for Optimization of Thermal and Mechanical Properties’ EDP Sciences,
SSH Conferences 01013 (2014), DOI: 10.1051/ shsconf/2014 1101013.
7. Akaninyene A. Umoh,[2012] ‘Recycling demolition waste sandcrete blocks as aggregate in concrete’,
ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, VOL. 7, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2012
8. Catarina Neno, Jorge de Brito, Rosário Veiga,[2014] ‘Using Fine Recycled Concrete Aggregate for
Mortar Production’, Materials Research. 2014; 17(1): 168-177, DOI:D
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-14392013005000164.
9. Haili Cheng, [2016], ‘Reuse research progress on waste clay brick’, Elesevier, Procedia
Environmental Sciences 31 ( 2016 ) 218 – 226.
10. IS 10262:1982- Concrete mix design

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