New Delhi: Researchers at IIT Madras have created a mechanism for recycling buildings and demolition waste with the help of solar thermal energy. The demonstration took place at the "India One Solar Thermal Power Plant," located in "Shantivan," the Brahma Kumaris organization's main temple in Rajasthan.
As per IIT Madras, the mechanism features 770 solar concentrators that use high-pressure steam to create electricity. Solar radiation was used to heat demolition waste concrete, resulting in Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA) that was of greater quality than materials obtained through mechanical crushing.
The concrete produced with this method satisfied the specifications needed for common structural applications. Since it began operating in 2017, the plant has affordably and efficiently supplied electricity to a neighbourhood of around 25,000 people.
Talking about this initiative, IIT Palakkad officials said, "By using concentrated solar energy for the heating, the thermo-mechanical beneficiation of the concrete waste results in high-quality recyclable materials, which can substitute stone (blue metal) aggregates and sand in concrete".
"In this pioneering study, concrete from a demolition site was heated using solar radiation concentrated through large reflectors and cast iron receivers to more than 550 °C and subsequently scrubbed mechanically to yield coarse and fine RCA, with properties similar to those of pristine aggregates", it added.
The study's principal goal, according to Professor Ravindra Gettu, VS Raju Chair Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, was to create a proof-of-concept for the use of solar radiation in thermomechanical beneficiation of concrete waste to create high-quality recyclable material for new concrete.
The use of concentrated solar energy for recycling used concrete is supported by this study and shows promise for widespread use. This would drastically lower the energy footprint of processing construction and demolition waste and result in cost savings for raw materials and power in the direction of a circular economy.
The three main goals of this study are the thermomechanical beneficiation of concrete waste using concentrated solar energy, the creation of high-quality RCA from the trash, and testing the effectiveness of the RCA in concrete to prove that waste may be recycled.
The study found that the reflector-receiver system could successfully reach and sustain the desired temperature of roughly 500 °C for a considerable amount of time. The properties of the aggregates produced were found to be comparable with those of RCA produced in an electric furnace.
With an estimated yearly production of 10 to 30 billion tonnes, concrete is the material used in construction worldwide. The goal of this study is to use concentrated solar energy to overcome the drawbacks of traditional thermomechanical methods in terms of toxic emissions.
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