Circular reinforced concrete with upgraded waste

Introduction

The objective of LIFE CIR®CON is to demonstrate a breakthrough circular technology for the built environment: a fully circular reinforced concrete with full load-bearing capabilities.

Technology Overview

The CIR®CON project demonstrates a technology that minimizes the use of raw materials:

• Producing concrete that is 100% circular, completely different from today’s practice where recycled concrete components end up in low-grade applications. Key is a binder production technology that makes use of the low-grade recycled concrete fractions.
• Upgrading a broad variety of waste streams, effectively eliminating the need for primary resources, which is a major breakthrough compared to existing developments of cement replacement.

Environmental Impact

The CIR®CON circular approach reduces raw limestone use in EU concrete production by more than 90%, potentially saving 7.3 Mton/yr.

Concrete is widely used because of its versatility, resilience, ease of production, low cost, and durability. Present concrete production is burdensome to our planet since it requires large amounts of virgin materials; e.g., 150 Mton/yr of limestone is mined for EU cement production. The replication potential of LIFE CIR®CON is high. Thus, LIFE CIR®CON can contribute majorly to the EU circularity goals for the built environment. Added benefits are a large reduction of GHG emissions and a reduction of waste streams.

Project Activities

During the project, LIFE CIR®CON will:

• Produce 40,000 tons of CIR®CON binder, upgrading 24,000 tons of waste.
• Implement and monitor constructive CIR®CON elements:
  1. 40 m of tunnel elements
  2. 1 km of prestressed railway sleepers
  3. 400 concrete slabs
  4. 10 cladding elements
  5. 250 m foundation piles
  6. 30 m² retaining walls

This will deliver sound proof of CIR®CON’s excellent (short and long-term) properties.

Market Readiness

LIFE CIR®CON is a close-to-market project. Pilot tests have delivered proof of concept of the CIR®CON technology. In this project, the partners take the next essential step: demonstrating the technology on full commercial scale, delivering proof of its potential in different sectors.