Life Cycle Assessment of Concrete Pavement Using Recycled Aggregate: Endpoint Method

• Main Author: Chua, Jason Jun Cheng
• Format: Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4072/1/1604738_FYP_Report_%2D_CHUA_JUN_CHENG_JASON.pdf; http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4072/

The concrete pavement network plays an important role in the economy of the country by enabling the transport of people and goods, but it also leads to resource depletion and environmental impacts. In recent years, the demand for greener development and design in the market increases, and the construction industry starts to have more focus on this environmental trend. Thus, it is important to consider the Life Cycle Assessment to reduce environmental impacts for sustainable development. OpenLCA software is used to carry out a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment by using Allocation at the Point of Substitution (APOS) approaches based on IMPACT 2002+ Endpoint method and ReCiPe Endpoint method. The pavements involved are conventional Portland cement concrete pavement and recycled aggregate Portland cement concrete pavement. This study focuses on the base course and subbase course of the pavement. The data for input and output of the material is taken from the Ecoinvent database. Due to the limitation of data, transportation distance was assumed based on the relevant study. There are four types of environmental impacts that have been analyzed including Ecosystem Quality, Resources, Human Health, and Climate Change. The comparison has been made between conventional pavement and recycled aggregate pavement where the results showed the uses of recycled aggregate in the pavement are able to reduce the environmental impacts. Despite both IMPACT 2002+ and ReCiPe Endpoint methods proved recycled aggregate pavement contributed a lesser impact, the results between the two life cycle assessment methods are incomparable due to huge differences in their weighting coefficients