Green Concrete Using Waste Glass and Recycled Aggregate & Its Cost Effect Analysis as Compared to Normal Concrete

Abstract

The concrete is 2nd most used material in the world after water. It is the most used material in the construction industry. Concrete production involves the use of Cement, Fine Aggregate and Coarse Aggregate, which is causing the natural deposits of construction materials to deplete day by day. Moreover, the emission of Carbon dioxide is polluting the environment to a great extent. The CO2 gas is emitted whenever the manufacture of cement takes place. Fabrication of 1 ton of cement results in the emission of 1 ton of CO2 to the atmosphere. Therefore, efforts are being made in order to replace the construction materials so that the above mentioned problems can be encountered. The use of recycled materials in concrete is a viable option. It not only reduces the burden on natural deposits but also saves us from dumping of waste materials into landfills. Several materials like Fly Ash, Silica Fumes and Rice Husk etc. have been found to be useful as replacements of materials in concrete. In our Project, we have replaced the concrete materials at all the three sub-levels i.e. Cement, Sand and Coarse Aggregate. Cement was replaced by Milled waste glass, Sand by Waste glass particles and Coarse Aggregate by Recycled aggregate. A series of tests were performed on each individual replacement at different replacement ratios and their Compressive and Flexural Strengths were tested. The results of Compressive and Flexural Strengths were then put into the SYSTAT software, which gave us the ratios of all these replacement materials for which the strengths would be maximum and cost would be minimum. A final matrix was then formulated using these replacement ratios and the strength tests were performed. This final matrix for Green Concrete gave us a slightly improved strengths but the effect on cost was incredible. The concept of this green concrete can make revolutionary changes in the concrete manufacturing industry.