This article addresses the energy saving potential and
environmental benefits of recycled polypropylene (PP) usage as a construction
material. PP polymer is a versatile material that
can be used as films or fibres which makes it one
of the most four selling and consumed plastics. PP
usage accounts for 75% of the worldwide usage of plastics in the world, this
plastic material accumulates day by day in landfill damaging the ecosystem and
environment enormously for the last decades. The objective of this study is to
reduce waste, find a greater resource productivity, and help decrease the
environmental impacts of construction materials manufacturing, and consump-tion (convert Waste to Wealth).
In this study, two samples having the same volume (1m³) of self-compacting
concrete (SCC); (one consists of PP fibre while the other one doesn’t) have
been compared in accordance with their Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) by using GaBi
software. The emission to air and emission to fresh water for SCC reinforced
concrete and PP reinforced concrete are calculated to be 4.53x105, 5.66x106;
and 2.51x105, 2.78x105 respectively for 100 years of life
cycle. The results showed that, for a 100 years of life cycle, the emissions to
air and fresh water should be decreased by 44.59% and 91.99% respectively. The
biggest benefit was mitigating the area occupied by plastic waste in landfill
in bulky quantities, and also preventing lead disposal
happening due to disposal of the PP based materials.
Primary Language | English |
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Journal Section | Research Article |
Authors | |
Publication Date | January 1, 2019 |
Acceptance Date | September 18, 2019 |
Published in Issue | Year 2019 Volume: 4 Issue: 1 |
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