Environmental assessment of copper slag aggregate concrete

Abstract

Due to the extremely large global production and utilization of concrete, the concrete industry is considered a large consumer of energy and natural resources and one of the main sources of greenhouse emissions and waste generation. Reducing its impacts on the environment is one of the most important paths toward sustainable construction development. Replacing cement and natural aggregates with byproducts and waste from other industries is one possible way of achieving this goal. On the other hand, the disposal of industrial waste, which arises from the pyrometallurgical process of copper production, presents a significant environmental load in many developed countries. Research performed so far has shown that concrete made with aggregate obtained from cooper slag instead of natural aggregate can be produced with good physical-mechanical properties for various applications. In this work, a cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment of several concrete mixtures where part of the coarse natural aggregate was replaced with copper slag aggregate was performed. The conducted case study was based on Serbian LCI data and local conditions in the vicinity of the town of Bor in Serbia. Results showed that such concrete mixtures can bring environmental benefits regarding natural aggregate preservation and waste reduction if the transport distance of copper slag aggregates is smaller than 20 km. Therefore, from the environmental protection point–of-view, local application of such concrete is recommended.