Selective Concrete Recycling

More than 3Bnt/yr of construction and demolition materials are produced worldwide, which corresponds to about 340,000t/hr. The recycling of gravel, sand and cement stone from old concrete into fresh concrete is often limited due to the impurity of the components. The water demand of cement stone, the ground recycled cement component of concrete,  also prevents an extended application. Nevertheless, efforts to recycle construction materials in a high- quality manner is steadily increasing worldwide.

There are various methods for selective process- ing of old concrete. Besides conventional impact or roller crushing, high-voltage crushing underwater and modifications of jaw crushers also demonstrate the possibility of selective concrete comminution. However, some of these technologies are still in the development phase or can only be applied on a small scale.  Loesche’s S/Crete solution, in contrast, presents a large-scale ‘selective grinding’ process to separate coarse and fine aggregates and cement stone. 

Download the full article here.

Published in the September 2024 issue of Global Cement Magazine.