Comparison of different concrete compositions based on sustainability score

Abstract

Researchers across the globe are developing different admixtures compositions to enhance sustainability of product. Fair sustainability assessment of these compositions still remains a major obstacle in adoption. The present work focuses on performing sustainability assessment of three different concrete composition developed by authors in their previous work. A sustainability score (SC) assigned to control concrete, as-received sugarcane bagasse ash (AR-SBA) and thermo-mechanical-treated sugarcane bagasse ash (T-SBA) blended concretes, is evaluated based on economic, environmental, technical and social criteria. Lifecycle assessment is performed to quantify the environmental criteria. The GWP for T-SBA is observed to be 5170 kg CO2 equi. which is the least, attributed to reduced cement consumption. acidification potential of AR-SBA was least, 19.2 kg SO2 equi. on account of no pretreatment of ash being used in concrete. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was considered for calculating the SC. Some alternatives performed well for certain indicators while lacked in other indicators making sustainability assessment even more challenging. The T-SBA blended concrete achieved the highest SC of 0.38 attributed to about 45% reduced GWP and around 22% reduction in water usage indicating higher sustainability . Such robust framework can be used for comparison of alternatives thereby increasing the scope for application.

Keywords

• lifecycle assessment
• analytical hierarchy process
• sustainability score
• multicriteria decision-making
• sustainability assessment