Waste Management 21 (2001) 271±277

www.elsevier.nl/locate/wasman

Life-cycle impacts of the use of industrial by-products

in road and earth construction
Ulla-Maija Mroueh, Paula Eskola *, Jutta Laine-Ylijoki
VTT Chemical Technology, PO Box 1403, FIN-02044 VTT, Finland

Abstract
A two-stage study ``Life cycle analysis of road construction and earthworks'' was part of a more extensive Finnish research
project ``Assessment of the applicability of secondary products in earthworks''. In the ®rst stage of this work a life-cycle impact
assessment procedure for the comparison and evaluation of alternative road and earth constructions was developed. Additionally, a
database containing the environmental burdens of the most signi®cant construction materials and unit operations was constructed.
In order to evaluate the applicability of the procedure, the use of coal ash, crushed concrete waste and granulated blast-furnace slag
in road construction was evaluated in case studies. The use of these secondary products was also compared with the use of natural
materials in corresponding applications. The aim of the second stage was to transfer the assembled data for utilisation as a practical
model by creating an inventory analysis program to calculate and compare the life cycle impacts of the most common road con-
structions and foundation engineering methods. The data obtained in the ®rst stage was also augmented to the extent necessary for
this purpose. The results of case studies indicate that the production and transport of the materials used in road constructions
produce the most signi®cant environmental burdens. Production of the bitumen and cement, crushing of materials and transport of
materials are the most energy consuming single life-cycle stages of the construction. A large part of the emissions to atmosphere
originates from energy production. In the expert assessment, consumption of natural materials and leaching behaviour were also
regarded as being of great signi®cance. # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Life cycle analysis; LCA; By-products; Road construction; Earth construction; Environmental impacts; Environmental loadings

1. Background One of the barriers to the wide-ranging utilisation of

About 70 million tonnes of natural mineral aggregates
are used each year in Finland for road construction and
earthworks. Depletion of the best materials, the need
for resource conservation and lengthened transport
distances have all increased the need to introduce sub-
stitute materials for natural aggregates. At the same
time industry, construction and other similar activities
produce large quantities of secondary products, which
may be suitable for use.
Up to now mainly coal ¯y ash and bottom ash, blast
furnace slag and crushed concrete have been used in
Finland. Also asphalt pavements are being recycled into
materials for new pavements. Shredded tyres, steel and
metal industry slags and foundry sand are used in
smaller amounts, and on-going research and test pro-
jects are seeking to improve the prerequisites for usage
of these and several other materials.
* Corresponding author. Fax: +358-9-4567026.
E-mail address: paula.eskola@vtt.® (P. Eskola).
0956-053X/01/$ - see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0956-053X(00)00100-8
the secondary products of energy production and
industry in road construction has been uncertainty
about the environmental impacts. In order to prevent
potentially hazardous e€ects it is important to identify
all the positive and negative impacts of these materials.
Life cycle impacts are also being increasingly used as a
selection criterion for products and materials both in
industry and in other activities.
Describing the total environmental impacts of activ-
ities and products reliably and in such a way that
alternatives can be compared is no simple task. The
cradle-to-grave life cycle analysis involves numerous
stages and activities that give rise to di€erent environ-
mental loadings. Identi®cation of the critical stages of
the life cycle and those factors responsible for environ-
mental loadings requires not only adherence to the basic
principles of life-cycle-analysis but also knowledge of
the product or activity in question.
The special characteristics of road construction and
earthworks are large volumes of the materials con-
sumed, the long service lives of the ®nished products,
272 U.-M. Mroueh et al. / Waste Management 21 (2001) 271±277
the need to assess construction as a whole rather than
comparing alternative materials, and the signi®cant
e€ect of the construction's longevity and need for repair
on their life cycle environmental loadings.
2. Development of LCA-methodology
A life-cycle impact assessment procedure for the
comparison and evaluation of alternative road and
earth constructions was developed [1±4]. The procedure
focused especially on the comparison of industrial by-
products and natural aggregates, but the assessment of
other constructions is possible, as well. The following
basic requirements were set for the methodology: the
method must be straightforward and easy to use, but at
the same time all major unit processes and environ-
mental impacts must be included. In addition, particular
attention should be paid to the special characteristics of
road construction and other earthworks. One premise
was also that the assessment procedure should be
applicable as a part of road planning, and that the
results could be used as selection criteria for alternative
constructions and materials.
The analysis included all the signi®cant life-cycle
stages covering the production and transportation of
materials, their placement in the road structures and the
use of the construction. The situation after the use of
the construction was not included because the structures
most commonly remain in place after they have been
withdrawn from service. The production chains of
industrial by-products were limited so that the envir-
onmental loadings of their production processes were
not included. By-products are de®ned in waste legisla-
tion as wastes for which no loadings are allocated in
life cycle analyses. An alternative to the use of most
by-products as recycled ®ll is disposal of the inert
waste in land®lls.
Those stages of road construction and use that have
no signi®cance for the comparison of constructions
were ruled out from analysis for the moment. These
included:
. site clearance,
. functions associated with road use, e.g. lane
markings, the installation and use of lights and
trac signs,
. regular and seasonal maintenance, such as snow-
ploughing, road salting and sanding,
. trac emissions, which are signi®cant in compar-
isons only if it is possible to determine the e€ect of
using a material or structure on them.
In the comparisons, the functional units were always
structures of the same dimensions that met the same
performance requirements and were designed at the
same site. The road constructions were studied as
entities. Because the environmental loading data were
calculated for each individual structural component and
work stage, they also used for examination of selected
courses or work stages. Fifty years was chosen as the
period of analysis. The period must be suciently long
to include the impacts of road service life.
The foundation and pavement structures were ana-
lysed separately and can be combined if required. In the
case of industrial by-products the environmental
burdens of land®ll disposal were also assessed, as an
alternative to their use in road construction.
The environmental burdens dealt with were limited to
those assessed as being the most important for road
construction in expert assessment. The following envir-
onmental loadings were included in the inventory:
1. Use of resources - Natural materials
- Industrial by-products
- Energy and fuel
consumption
2. Atmospheric emissions - Carbon dioxide (CO2)
- Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
- Sulphur dioxide (SO2)
- Volatile organic
compounds (VOC)
- Particles
- Carbon monoxide (CO)
3. Leaching into the ground - Heavy metals
- Chloride
- Sulphate
4. Other loadings - Noise
- Dust
- Land use
On the basis of a preliminary assessment of the
quantity and signi®cance, the following environmental
loadings were excluded from the inventory: water use,
discharges of COD and nitrogen to water, emissions of
PAH, heavy metals and methane, ordinary and hazar-
dous waste and accident risks.
3. Case studies
3.1. Pavement structures
The use of conventional materials and secondary
products was compared in a pavement structure which
was designed according to the design code of the
Finnish Road Association [5]. The dimensions of the
structure are presented in Fig. 1.
The life cycle environmental loadings were calculated
for the alternative constructions listed in Table 1.
Because the same structural requirements can be met
 U.-M. Mroueh et al. / Waste Management 21 (2001) 271±277 273

Fig. 1. Dimensions of the cross-section selected for analysis and the structural courses on a low embankment.

Table 1
Structural courses of the case study constructions and the materials used in them.a

Structural Natural Ash 1 Ash 2 Ash 3 Concrete 1 Concrete 2 Blast-furnace

layer aggregate slag

Pavement 160 mm 50 mm 160 mm 160 mm 160 mm 80 mm 160 mm

AB 20/120 AB 16 AB 20/120 AB20/120 AB 20/120 AB 20/120 AB 20/120

Base course 250 mm 150 mm 150 mm 150 mm 100 mm 200 mm 100 mm

Crushed Crushed Crushed Crushed Crushed Crushed Crushed
rock 0±35 rock 0±35 BST rock 0±35 rock 0±35 concrete 0±50 concrete 0±50 blast-furnace slag
Sub-base 250 mm 650 mm 350 mm 350 mm 150 mm 200 mm 250 mm
Gravel Fly ash+ Fly ash+ Fly ash Crushed Crushed Granulated
cement 2% cement 2% concrete concrete blast-furnace slag

Filter layer 250 mm 200 mm 200 mm 200 mm 550 mm 450 mm 200 mm

Sand Sand Sand Sand Sand Sand Granulated
blast-furnace slag
Total thickness 910 1050 860 860 960 930 710
Embankment 500 mm 500 mm 500 mm 500 mm 500 mm 500 mm 500 mm
Sand Sand Sand Sand Sand Sand Sand
a
The constructions and the abbreviations hereafter used to denote them were as follows: Natural aggregate Ð reference construction built solely
out of natural mineral aggregate, R1; Ash 1 Ð ¯y ash construction, FA1; Ash 2 Ð ¯y ash construction comparable with other constructions in
terms of pavement thickness, FA2; Ash 3 Ð ¯y ash construction 2 without cement, FA3; Concrete 1 Ð crushed concrete construction, CC1; Con-
crete 2 Ð crushed concrete construction in which the pavement thickness is reduced by using thicker crushed concrete courses than in concrete 1,
CC2; Blast-furnace slag Ð construction in which crushed blast-furnace slag and sand are used, BFS.

using di€erent structural solutions, two di€erent alter-

natives in terms of pavement thickness were designed
for the ¯y ash and crushed concrete constructions. In Crushed rock 10 km Crushed concrete 10 km
addition, a ¯y ash construction in which cement was not Sand and gravel 50 km Cement 100 km
used as a mix additive was inventoried. With the aid of Fly ash 10 km Asphalt 10 km
alternative by-product constructions it was possible to Blast-furnace slag 50 km
assess the e€ects of the pavement course thickness and
the use of cement on the life cycle environmental
loadings. In these theoretical cases it was not possible to deter-
The functional unit selected for the case studies was a mine the e€ect of the structural materials on road
one-kilometre-long section of road, the structural design of maintenance. Thus the calculations were limited to only
which is given in Fig. 1. Average distances from the Hel- one maintenance alternative, which describes the
sinki Metropolitan Area to sources of sand, gravel, cru- contribution of road maintenance to the total life cycle
shed rock and ¯y ash were used as the transport distances. loadings of the construction.
Average transport distances in Finland were used for The consumption of natural materials and the by-pro-
other raw materials. The transport distances were as duct quantities in the alternative pavement structures are
follows: given in Fig. 2. In the by-product constructions the
274 U.-M. Mroueh et al. / Waste Management 21 (2001) 271±277
consumption of natural materials is primarily in¯uenced
by the extent to which di€erent materials of the struc-
tural courses can be replaced by secondary materials.
The di€erences between the alternative constructions
are reduced by the fact that a 0.5-m sand embankment
and asphalt pavement is assumed in all the construc-
tions.
The energy consumption of the alternative construc-
tions by main work stage is presented in Fig. 3. Most of
the energy is consumed in the pre-handling phase, which
includes the heavily energy-consuming manufacture of
cement and asphalt. In the ¯y ash construction FA1, for
example, asphalt accounts for 57% of energy consump-
tion, the manufacture of cement for 25%, and
everything else for only 18%. The ¯y ash constructions
containing cement (FA 1 and 2) have the highest total
Fig. 2. Comparison of material and energy use and emissions of CO2
of the alternative pavement studies. FA1, FA2 and FA3 Ð ¯y ash
constructions; CC1 and CC2 Ð crushed concrete constructions;
BFS Ð blast furnace slag construction; R1 Ð natural aggregate con-
struction.
Fig. 3. Consumption of energy of the alternative pavement structures.
FA1, FA2 and FA3 Ð ¯y ash constructions; CC1 and CC2 Ð crushed
concrete constructions; BFS Ð blast furnace slag construction; R1 Ð
natural aggregate construction.
energy consumption, and the crushed concrete con-
struction with a relatively thin asphalt pavement (CC2)
has the lowest. The share of transport is 15±30% of
energy consumption.
As can be seen from Fig. 4, where the energy con-
sumption of asphalt layer is excluded, the pre-handling
of industrial by-products is very slightly energy
consuming. The most signi®cant stage is crushing of
materials, especially crushing of stone, which is used in
the base course of most of the constructions. Also
crushing of blast-furnace slag consumes energy. In Fin-
land, however, the steel industry produces mostly
granulated slag.
With the exception of some process emissions, the
atmospheric emissions originated from the consumption
of fuels, and they were broken down among the alter-
native constructions, structural materials and work
stages in the same way as energy consumption.
Some environmental loadings of the alternative
pavement structures are compared in Table 2. For
comparison, Table 2 also shows the trac emissions
over a period of 50 years, assuming a trac volume of
7000 vehicles per day, of which 1000 are heavy vehicles.
The tables and ®gures clearly show that there are dif-
ferences between the environmental loadings of the
pavement structures in the case studies. Because the
constructions were examined as a whole, the use of
asphalt accounts for a relatively large proportion of
energy consumption and atmospheric emissions. This
evens out the di€erences between the constructions with
regard to these loadings. The same type of levelling
e€ect is also evident in the other loadings.
In these case studies the use of blast-furnace slag and
crushed concrete reduced the environmental loadings
compared to the use of natural aggregates. When com-
paring the environmental loadings, it must, however, be
Fig. 4. Consumption of energy of the alternative pavement structures
during the pre-handling stage. Heavily energy consuming asphalt layer
is excluded. FA3 Ð ¯y ash construction without cement; CC1 Ð cru-
shed concrete construction; BFS Ð blast furnace slag construction,
R1 Ð natural aggregate construction.
 U.-M. Mroueh et al. / Waste Management 21 (2001) 271±277 275

Table 2
Energy consumption and atmospheric emissions of the construction of alternative pavement structures compared to the trac emissions over a
period of 50 years [6±9]

E€ect category Unit FA 1 FA 2 FA 3 CC1 CC2 BFS R1 Trac

Energy consumption MWh/km 1 470 1 250 1 050 1 150 793 1 060 1 160 120 200

Emissions
CO kg/km 1120 900 650 800 760 600 830 459 000
NOx kg/km 3800 3400 2900 3300 2600 2800 3440 354 000
Particles kg/km 360 310 260 300 250 260 315 22 000
SO2 kg/km 610 530 440 450 280 425 460 4000
CO2 t/km 562 449 346 373 263 338 380 31 500
VOC kg/km 980 870 740 790 550 720 800 86 000
Dust (2±40 mm) kg/km 3020 8540 8540 4200 3800 3100 14000

remembered that we were dealing with theoretical con-
structions. In real situations the calculation must always
be made for each individual construction. For example,
a change in the thickness of the asphalt course, the use
of unpaved structures or the use of cement has a
signi®cant e€ect on the total loadings and also on the
di€erences between the constructions. The di€erence
between the FA2 and FA3 ¯y ash constructions illus-
trates the e€ect of using a relatively small amount of
cement (2% of the material used in a 350 mm thick sub-
base) on energy consumption and emissions.
A summary of the environmental loadings of the
alternative foundation engineering methods is presented in
Fig. 5. Energy consumption and atmospheric emissions
are high in the soil stabilisation and deep stabilisation
alternatives, in which plenty of cement is used. Compared
with the alternative pavement structures, the energy con-
sumption of soil stabilisation and deep stabilisation are
greater by factors of about 10 and 4, respectively.
4. Data de®ciencies and uncertainties

3.2. Environmental loadings of the foundation Because of the local nature of the e€ects of road con-
engineering methods structions, primarily local or material-speci®c data were
used. Use was also made of general Finnish knowledge,
In the alternative foundations examined, the natural which was supplemented by international sources of
ground was assumed to be weakly bearing and com- data where necessary.
pressible soft clay extending to a depth of 5 m. The Average Finnish leaching data was used for industrial
ground beneath the clay was bearing. Constructions by-products. Because there was no leaching data avail-
most commonly used on shallow and deep layers of able for natural aggregates, a few materials were tested
weak soil were examined as alternatives. To make com- during the project. The tests used were CEN pr EN
parisons easier, the depth of weak soil was assumed to 12457 [10] (L/S 2 and L/S 10) and a pH-static test. In
be the same in all the constructions. The alternatives CEN pr EN 12457 the leaching of Cd, Cr, Zn and Pb
were as follows: and V were under detection limit (Table 3) from all the
natural aggregates. The decrease of pH did not sig-
ni®cantly increase the leaching of metals from sand. The
amounts of Cu, Ni and Zn leaching from crushed rock
Shallow layer Soil Removal of the and crushed gravel increased in the pH-static test.
of weak soil: replacement weakly bearing The quantities of substances leaching out of second-
material and ary materials were simulated on the basis of laboratory-
replacement by scale leaching tests. In practice, numerous factors, e.g.
suciently bearing ®ll. the condition of the structure and its surface as well as
Soil Stabilisation of the environmental conditions, a€ect leaching from con-
stabilisation clay layer using struction materials.
cement (100 kg/m3) The availability of data on by-products was limited by
Deep layer Deep Deep stabilisation using the fact that their utilisation is not yet well established. For
of weak soil: stabilisation cement (120 kg/m3) this reason it is not always easy to determine the most
and a capping layer common working methods and the most general imple-
of stabilised clay mentation methods of the work stages. As yet there is still
Vertical Vertical strip drains at relatively little experience Ð or measurement-based data
drainage 1-metre intervals on the work stages and their environmental loadings.
276 U.-M. Mroueh et al. / Waste Management 21 (2001) 271±277

Fig. 5. Environmental loadings of the alternative foundation engineering methods.

The release of dust emissions from materials during the
di€erent stages of production, transportation and con-
struction is a signi®cant environmental loading factor due
to the comfort and heath risks that they pose. However,
little measurement data on the release of dust emissions
was found and its conversion into a comparable form
was problematic. In practice, small particulate matter
(SPM) can be more signi®cant than the total amount of
particles. SPM emissions remain airborne for a very
long time and are carried long distances by winds.
Moreover, they pose a more serious health risk than
bigger dust particles. Because SPM emissions have
attracted attention only recently, there is even less data
available on them than on total emissions of particles.
5. Conclusions
An Excel-based life cycle inventory analysis program
for road constructions has been developed on the basis

Table 3
Leaching of metals from natural aggregates, mg/kg. Test method CEN prEN 12457

Sample mg/kg

Cd Cr Mn V Ni Pb Zn As Mo

L/S 2 L/S 10 L/S 2 L/S 10 L/S 2 L/S 10 L/S 2 L/S 10 L/S 2 L/S 10 L/S 2 L/S 10 L/S 2 L/S 10 L/S 2 L/S 10 L/S 2 L/S 10

Crushed 0.0002 0.001 0.004 0.020 0.026 0.130 0.010 0.050 0.004 0.020 0.004 0.020 0.040 0.200 0.006 0.030 0.020 0.1
rock 0±50 mm
Crushed 0.0002 0.001 0.004 0.020 0.006 0.046 0.010 0.050 0.004 0.020 0.004 0.020 0.040 0.200 0.006 0.030 0.024 0.1
rock 0±16 mm
Filter layer 0.0002 0.001 0.004 0.020 0.036 0.114 0.010 0.050 0.004 0.020 0.004 0.020 0.040 0.200 0.006 0.030 0.020 0.1
sand
Gravel 0.0002 0.001 0.004 0.020 0.128 0.338 0.010 0.050 0.004 0.020 0.004 0.020 0.040 0.200 0.006 0.030 0.020 0.1
Gravel 0.0002 0.001 0.004 0.020 0.072 0.368 0.010 0.050 0.004 0.020 0.004 0.020 0.040 0.200 0.006 0.030 0.020 0.1
Crushed 0.0002 0.001 0.004 0.020 0.018 0.082 0.010 0.050 0.004 0.020 0.004 0.020 0.040 0.200 0.006 0.030 0.028 0.1
rock 0±16 mm
Crushed 0.0002 0.001 0.004 0.020 0.120 0.395 0.010 0.050 0.004 0.020 0.004 0.020 0.040 0.200 0.006 0.030 0.028 0.1
gravel 0±50 mm
Granulated 0.0002 0.001 0.004 0.020 0.211 0.301 0.403 1.753 0.004 0.020 0.004 0.020 0.040 0.200 0.006 0.030 0.020
blast furnace slag
Detection limit, 0.0002 0.001 0.004 0.02 0.002 0.01 0.01 0.05 0.004 0.02 0.004 0.02 0.04 0.2 0.006 0.03 0.02 0.1
mg/kg
 U.-M. Mroueh et al. / Waste Management 21 (2001) 271±277
of the study's results. It covers all the work stages from
material production to road maintenance as well as the
materials most commonly used in the structural courses
of road constructions. The environmental loadings of
the constructions and structural components made from
the materials within the scope of the program can be
calculated simply using only the dimensions of the con-
struction, thickness of the structural courses and transport
distances as input data. The inventory analysis program is
limited at this stage to calculating and comparing the
environmental loadings of constructions only.
The environmental loadings dealt with in the program
have been limited to those assessed as being the most
important. However, the loading factors in question
described the total environmental loadings quite well as
long as the life cycle inventory pertains to complete
constructions. The environmental loadings regarded as
being the most important for road construction in the
expert assessment made when creating the inventory ana-
lysis procedure were the use of natural materials, energy
and fuel consumption, the leaching of heavy metals into
the soil, and atmospheric emissions of NOx and CO2.
In the case study it was found that the use of blast-
furnace slag and crushed concrete decreased the envir-
onmental loadings compared to the reference construc-
tion. Because the construction and the transport
distances always a€ect the outcome of such compar-
isons, the results as such cannot; however, be generally
applied to the comparison of materials.
Acknowledgements
The study was ®nanced by TEKES, Finnra, Lohja
Rudus Environmental Technology, Helsingin Energia
277
and SKJ-yhtiot. We thank the ®nanciers for their sup-
port and our co-workers who have collaborated with us
on this study.
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