Escola Politcnica da USP

Depto. Eng. Construo Civil

Recycling &
sustainable development:
possibilities and limitations
Vanderley M John

Escola Politcnica da USP

Contents
A Materials Flow Analysis view of materials & wastes
The implications of sustainable development
The need of measuring sustainability
Some examples

Total Evolution of material use

50
40
30
20
10

0
Hunther-Gatherer

Agrarian

Industrial

Krausmann in Fundamentals of Materials for Energy and Environmental Sustainability MRS/Cambridge 2012 p.82

Domestic Materials Consumption

Krausmann in Fundamentals of Materials for Energy and Environmental Sustainability MRS/Cambridge 2012 p.82

Building Materials demand is growing

faster than others
70000

Global Demand (M t)

60000
50000

Biomass
Fossil energy carriers
Construction minerals
Ores and industrial minerals

40000
30000
20000
10000
0
1900

Krausman et al. 2009

1925

1950

1975

2005

Building materials share of total

materials demand

Building Materials

Krausman et al. 2009

Construction Materials scarcity

Si; 27,7
Al; 8,1

Fe; 5,0
Ca; 3,6

O 46,6

Na 2,8
K 2,6
Mg 2,1
Others
1,4

Construction uses abundant materials!

Materials scarcity & Thermodynamics

Earth is an (almost) close system!
Nothing disappears: matter conservation law
Everything disperses: the law of entropy

Scarcity is associated to changes in

concentration, structure, purity

and imply in higher costs!

The Natural Step

http://www.naturalstep.org/en/the-science-behind-our-approach

Recycling: delaying the inevitable

Separation: recovers purity
Concentration: reverse logistics
(Transformation: recover structure)

Recycling: separation is the basics

Chemical transformation
will not be reversed

Foto: Carina Ulsen Poli USP

Materials scarcity & Geography

Concentrated demand in metropolitan areas
Environmental protection
NIMBY (not in my backyard)

For low-cost, abundant materials,

Scarcity is Regional
(Habert et all, 2014)

Habert et all Land-cover-based indicator to assess the accessibility of resources used in the construction sector. Res
Cons Recycling. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2014.11.006

Recycling

Reduce demand for

natural resources!
Full close cycle is not possible.

Waste:
the major product of industrial societies
Industrial Waste

Construction waste included

Concentrated
Simple logistics
Lower contamination

Post-use waste

Maintenance & Demolition waste

Dispersed
Complex logistics
Higher Contamination

Hidden flows
Do not enter in the economy

Hidden flows
Waste/Product

Average Crustal
Abundance

Concentration Factor

Al (Aluminum)

8.0%

3 to 4

Fe (Iron)

5.8%

6 to7

Ti (Titanium)

0.86%

25 to 100

Cr (Chromium)

0.0096%

4,000 to 5,000

Zn (Zinc)

0.0082%

300

Cu (Copper)

0.0058%

100 to 200

Ag (Silver)

0.000008%

~1000

Pt (Platinum)

0.0000005%

600

Au (Gold)

0.0000002%

4,000 to 5,000

0.00016%

500 to 1000

Substance

U (Uranium)

Nelson Mineral Resources http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens1110/minresources.htm

But not all waste is dumped!

C&D Waste Landfill

80m

Picture: Marco Antonio Fialho

Picture: Marco Antonio Fialho

CDW Dump site landslide

kills 12 children (1989)

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/1996/8/07/
cotidiano/28.html

Red Mud landslide (Hungary 2010)

://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10422

Recycling

Reduce demand
(and risks)

of landfills.

There are other pressing

environmental problems

Global
Warming

Energy demand

http://dk8mx37zdr9bp.cloudfront.net/combus
tion/Products/PillardFlamme%20fin%20chauffefuel%20oil_500.jpg

Depletion of Ozone Layer

Water scarcity

http://www.americansecurityproject.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/09/waterscarity2025x1.
jpg

Sustainable Recycling technology

must reduce
cradle to grave

environmental impacts

Life cycle analysis

LCA Environmental impacts bold are prioritized for Construction (EN 15804, ISO 21931-1)
1

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10
11
12

Climate change
Ozone layer destruction
Human Toxicity
Volatile organic compounds
Ionizing Radiation
Photochemical ozone formation
Water acidification
Eutrophication
Eco-toxicity
Land use
Natural resources use (water, waste, energy)

Full LCA problems

Perceive complexity:
Several different standards
Lack of data transparency
Lack of data availability

Generalized use of generic data: same industrial route, similar

environmental impact
Lack of transparency
High cost due to complexity
Need for simple core indicators
WBCSD - Mainstream LCA across the buildings and materials value chain
http://www.lcaforum.ch/portals/0/df57/DF57-17%20Brown.pdf

Full LCA - Difficulties

Require too much data
Expensive and time consuming to perform
Not feasible for small companies
Difficult to handle in R&D phase
Not suitable for day-to-day decision making

CO2 in Concrete Production

20
Literatura

CO2 (kgm-3MPa-1)

16

Central
CP II E de concreto
CP III
Srie7

12
8
500kg/m

250kg/m
100kg/m

0
0

20

40
60
80
100
Resistncia compresso(MPa)

120

140

DAMINELI, B.L. et all Avaliao do Impacto de Concretos Dosados em Central ao Aquecimento Global. I Congreso Hormign Premezclado de las Americas 2010 /
IV Congreso Internacional de tecnologa del Hormign, 2010,. Anais... . Mar del Plata, 2010.

CO2 in Concrete Block Production

(33 companies from Brazil)

Variability of CO2 emissions

Brazilian plaster industry
2,0

CO2 (t/t)

1,5

1,36

0,91

1,0

0,5

0,21

0,16

0,0

Lenha Nativa
Panela

Lenha Nativa

Oleo Comb
Marmita

Oleo Comb
Rotativo

a partir de Peres, Benachour e Santos (2001), BEN 2011

Emission factors

can vary by

factor of 3
for the same technological route

Brazilian Modular LCA approach in

construction
CO2
Cumulative Energy Demand
Waste
Water
Total materials
Other relevant aspects for the product (Toxicity, VOC..)

Uncertainty must be disclosed and included in the decision

Service life must be considered

Already in the market

www.acv.net.br

+ de 33 concrete block producers!

LCA in R&D
of new recycling technologies
Relevant functional unit
Comparison with a baseline (reference) product
Equivalent product made with virgin materials

Streamlined (screening) approach

Core indicators (CO2, Energy, Water, Waste, )
Toxicity might be important

Emission factors from databases

Huge uncertainty on actual factors

Service life estimative

Uncertainty must be presented

Service life must be ensured

Tetrapack recycled corrugated roof sheet

~2 years old, Brazil

Some examples of simplified

LCA applied to Recycling

The effect of tyre rubber fiber

in concrete on CO2
CO 2 (kg.m-.MPa-1)

30
IC-1

25

IC-2

20
15
10
5
0

20

40
60
80
Tire rubber fiber (kg/m)

100

120

A partir de Mosca; Lintz; Carnio, 2005; Penha et al, 2006

Energy and CO2 from high

performance recycled
aggregate production
Quattrone, Angulo, John 2015
Resource Conservation and Recycling
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2014.06.003

Recycling aggregate technologies

Ordinary
Mechanical treatments
Eccentric rotor crusher (ERI)
Screw abrading crusher (SAC)
Compression & impact (C&I)

Thermal process
Heating and sorting (HS-RK)
Heating and rubbing - ordinary kiln (HR-F)
Heating and rubbin microwave owen (HR-M)

Allocation:
The question of functional unit

Cumulative Energy Demand

(MJ/t total material)

Cumulative Energy Demand

(MJ/t coarse aggregate)

CO2 emissions
(kg/t of aggregate)

CO2 emissions - commercial product

(kg/t of coarse aggregate)

Simple LCA screening

is a powerfull tool

Sustainability is more complex than

Environment

Economy

Society

Technology feasible solutions

Environment

Social economical evaluation

Income generation
Job generation
Tax income
Public spending reduction

Illegal dumping of CDW

is a burden for local authorities

So Paulo, Brazil
04/11/2001

Money is fundamental:
Economic evaluation

We need recycling technologies

competitive in markets
Regional or local decision

Local cost
Taxation of waste
Transportation distance
Sand cost in So Paulo is 5x the price in Zurich

Cost of reference (virgin) solution + waste management cost

Depends on business model

Waste is already raw materials in some

80

1400
1200

70

36

1000

60

800

40

600

30

400

50

50

64

20

200

10

Steel

Can we learn from this markets?

50

Aluminium

Sustainable development & recycling

Full close loop cycle is not possible!
Recycling will be effective only
if they reach a market
Reduce environmental impacts
Improve social equity

Simple LCA tools can be powerful tool

Uncertainty must considered

Social & economic dimensions must be included

We need to develop simple and robust protocols

Service life estimation has to be performed

Regional Scenario is Important

Thank you!
vmjohn@usp.br