Life Cycle Assessment of Concrete Manufacturing for Sustainable Production in India

Abstract

Concrete is the most widely used material globally and demand for concrete is increasing in developing countries. The consumption rate is estimated to be 25–30 gigatonnes per year. The present study aims to assess the environmental impacts due to the production of concrete in India. In this study, the reduction in impacts is also calculated considering different scenarios specific to India. The impacts were evaluated for 100 m3 of concrete production. A total of five impact categories were considered and four scenarios were accounted for estimating the impacts reduction. The scope included material phase, production phase and end-of-life phases while use phase was not considered. Cement contributed the highest (89%) to the overall environmental impacts due to concrete production in India. The study found that the existing baseline scenario (S 1) was the second most least preferred and the scenario (S2) considering the dismantling and recycling was the least preferred having the highest environmental impacts. The scenario (S4) considering the use of renewable energy had the least impacts on the environment and offered about 9% of impacts reduction in comparison to existing baseline scenario (S 1). This study will help the decision makers and construction companies to reduce the environmental footprint of concrete production.