R concrete – resource-conserving concrete – the next generation of material

The overall aim of the R concrete project is to develop resource-conserving concrete. The unique feature of this concrete is that it will be manufactured, to the extent possible, from materials which are reclaimed from mineral construction waste that has been subjected to a range of processing techniques.

Substantial quantities of mineral construction waste are disposed of every year. These include many different types of waste and material flows, which differ significantly in their material and physical properties. The volume and characteristics of these waste material flows are set to change due to the substantial changes in construction methods and materials used in recent years. The first step is therefore to forecast and describe the future waste masses with material properties and mass volumes which may make them suitable as a secondary raw material for concrete production.

The quality of the concrete and the type and quantity of the other recipe components is essentially determined by the aggregate used and its properties. The accompanying ecological research must therefore ensure that the entire process chain from the access to suitable initial materials from the portfolio of mineral construction waste, the various treatment techniques and processes, and manufacturing the aggregate for concrete production is beneficial compared to the conventional approach of using primary raw materials. At the same time, this production method must also be ecologically viable from the point of view of a construction waste recycler by comparison with manufacturing a conventional product portfolio.

Runtime

November 2014 – April 2018

Client

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (German Federal Ministry of Education and Reasearch)

Partner

HeidelbergCement AG

Scherer + Kohl GmbH & Co. KG

BASF Construction Polymers GmbH

VDZ gGmbH

RWTH Aachen University

Technical University of Kaiserslautern

Associated partners: MAPEI GmbH Deutschland, Forschungsgemeinschaft Transportbetonindustrie e.V.

Partner in subcontract: Spenner Zement GmbH & Co. KG