Ekologizace slévárny Vítkovice, a.s.

Import 20/04/2006Prezenční výpůjčkaVŠB - Technická univerzita Ostrava. Fakulta metalurgie a materiálového inženýrství. Katedra (616) ochrany životního prostředí v průmysl

Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Impacts of Building Materials: Evaluating Transport-Related Factors

The construction industry plays a significant role in resource consumption and environmental degradation, making it crucial to analyze the sustainability aspects of construction materials and their transportation processes. This paper focuses on conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis of building materials, specifically considering the environmental impacts associated with their transportation to construction sites. By incorporating the transport phase into the assessment, a more holistic understanding of the environmental implications of construction materials can be achieved. The study aims to quantify the environmental burdens of both material production and transportation, providing valuable insights for sustainable decision making in the construction industry. The analysis revealed that transport of building materials for the studied house by diesel lorry, covering a distance of 150 km, contributed 16% to climate change and a significant 53.5% to abiotic resource depletion. Additionally, it had a 15–18% impact on acidification and photo-oxidant formation

Investigation of the engineering and environmental properties of cement mortars incorporating ladle furnace steel slag

While the use of ladle steel slag in concrete offers several potential advantages, there are significant research gaps that need to be addressed to promote its safe and effective utilization in the construction industry, e.g. the variations in slag properties, such as chemical composition and physical characteristics, can influence concrete performance. Moreover, even there is some research on the mechanical properties of concrete containing ladle steel slag, more in-depth studies are needed to assess the long-term durability of such concrete and the research should focus more on evaluating the environmental impact of using ladle steel slag in concrete. The paper reports the fundamental findings of a research study focused on the treatment of ladle slag to be applied as a cement substitute in the manufacturing of cement products. The research aimed to determine the optimal proportion of admixture based on treated ladle slag and evaluate the environmental properties of the resulting cement composites. The treatment process involved mechanical activation, specifically grinding the ladle slag fraction of 0/8 mm using a vibrating mill (Coarse slag) and a ball mill (Fine slag). The treated ladle slag, as an admixture, was examined in conjunction with four types of cement (CEM I, CEM II, CEM III, and CEM V). The research findings revealed that the incorporation of coarse ladle slag enhanced the workability of fresh cement paste across all tested formulations. Moreover, the utilization of treated ladle slag as an admixture in cement paste (substituting cement) exhibited a retarding effect on the setting time. As the age of the test specimens progressed (90 to180 days), the strength properties of the samples with ladle slag admixture approached those of the cement composites prepared using natural aggregates. The climate change impact of cement mortars per strength unit spanned from 0.82 to 2.75 kg CO2eq/MPa for composites incorporating finely-ground slag, and from 0.9 to 3.1 kg CO2eq/MPa for composites utilizing coarse slag. The grinding of ladle slag, even up to 30 wt% cement replacement, did not significantly impact the overall global warming potential and climate change, considering the average mill energy consumption of 50 kWh per 1 t of material