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Review

Performance enhancement of recycled concrete aggregate e A review

Caijun Shi a, *, Yake Li b, Jiake Zhang a, Wengui Li a, Linlin Chong a, Zhaobin Xie a, c
a
College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, China
b
WOWA International Engineering & Consulting Co. Ltd, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, 518067, China
c
College of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Recycled concrete aggregate differ from natural aggregate as the former contains hardened cement
Received 18 March 2015 mortar. The adhered cement mortar on recycled concrete aggregate has higher porosity and water ab-
Received in revised form sorption and lower strength than natural aggregate do. It has negative effects on the mechanical
5 August 2015
properties and durability of fresh and hardened concrete made with recycled concrete aggregate.
Accepted 13 August 2015
Available online 21 August 2015
Therefore, it will facilitate the applications of recycled concrete aggregate if the adhered cement mortar
can be enhanced. Removing and strengthening the adhered mortar are the two main methods for
enhancing the properties of recycled concrete aggregate. This paper reviews the published enhancement
Keywords:
Recycled concrete aggregate
methods for recycled concrete aggregate, and points out their advantages and disadvantages so as to
Adhered cement mortar facilitate the selection and further development of suitable enhancement methods for recycled concrete
Enhancement treatment aggregate. It suggests that carbonation treatment is an efficient and feasible method for improving the
Strength mechanical properties and durability of recycled concrete aggregate. Carbonation treatment of recycled
concrete aggregate is not only an efficient way for enhancing the properties of recycled concrete
aggregate, but also an environmental friendly approach.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction but also saved the land for disposal the waste concrete. However,
use of RCA for the production of concrete may cause some me-
Construction and demolition (C&D) wastes account for a large chanical problems (Go  mez-Sobero  n, 2002; Katz, 2003; Etxeberria
portion of solid wastes and the generation of which has been et al., 2007; Ajdukiewicz and Kliszczewicz, 2002; de Juan and
increasing rapidly in China. Recycling/reusing C&D wastes is an Gutierrez, 2009; Bravo and de Brito 2012) and durability concerns
important issue to foster sustainable development and has become (Kou et al., 2011; Tam et al., 2007; Rao et al., 2007) due to the poor
a focus of research efforts in recent years. Different types of solid quality of RCA. Poon et al. (2002) reported that replacing 50% or
waste materials have been considered as the aggregate/or in any more coarse and fine natural aggregate with RCA can significantly
other form in concrete, such as the discarded tire rubber (Thomas reduce the compressive strength of concrete, and Talamona and
and Gupta, 2015; Thomas et al., 2015) and copper tailing (Thomas Tan (2012) also obtained similar findings. RCA differs from natu-
et al., 2013). Such application of those solid waste showing feasi- ral aggregate (NA) mainly because it contains two additional
bility of reusing the waste as the construction materials. components: adhered mortar and an interfacial transition zone
Recently, effective uses of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) in (ITZ) between the NA and the original cement mortar. Because the
cement and concrete industry have attracted a lot of attention from original cement mortar attached on NA is more porous than NA.
both the environmental and resource preservations (Hu et al., RCA have higher porosity and water absorption, and lower strength
2013). Because the natural aggregate cannot be reproduced in compared with NA. The water absorption of RCA ranges 3e12%
short term, and aggregate typically accounts for 60 to 75 percent of compared with 1e5% for NA (Go  mez-Sobero  n, 2002; Katz, 2003).
concrete by volume (Taylor et al., 2007). Thus, to use the waste The density and absorption of RCA depend upon the W/C ratio of
concrete as the recycled aggregate not only solve the resource issue, the original concrete (Etxeberria et al., 2007) and the amount of
adhered mortar. Also, the crushing process and the dimension of
RCA affect the amount of adhered mortar (Ajdukiewicz and
Kliszczewicz, 2002; de Juan and Gutie rrez, 2009). High water ab-
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (C. Shi). sorption of RCA required the pozzolanic materials and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.08.057
0959-6526/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 C. Shi et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 112 (2016) 466e472 467

superplasticizer to make concrete of equivalent fresh and hardened 1) Mechanical grinding

properties to those of natural aggregate concrete (Go  mez-Sobero
 n,
2002; Kou et al., 2011; Tam et al., 2007; Rao et al., 2007). The principal function of traditional grinding is achieved by
Concrete consists of three components: hardened cement paste, rolling vibration effects of a high speed rotating eccentric gear in a
aggregate and ITZ between the cement paste and the aggregate. ITZ grinding mill. The adhered mortar would be ground pulversied by
is usually the weakest region in concrete due to its higher porosity this action. It can be further modified by improving the eccentric
and cracks than those in either hardened cement paste or aggregate gear to gain a higher speed, and thus to enhance the peeling-off
(Zhang et al., 2015a). RCA in concrete resulted in more ITZs than NA, efficiency of the mortars and the quality of RCA. Montgomery
which includes original ITZs between the original aggregate and (Montgomery, 1998) removed the adhered mortar from the virgin
the adhesive mortar and the new ITZs between the adhesive mortar aggregate by ball-milling and investigated the influences of
and the new mortar matrix. Etxeberria et al. (2006) found that the adhered mortar contents on the properties of RCA.
adhered original mortar was the weakest portion in recycled con-
crete. However, Otsuki et al. (2003) evaluated ITZs by Vickers 2) Selective heat grinding (Bru et al., 2014)
microhardness test and found that the characteristics of original
ITZs were depended on the qualities, rather than the quantity of Selective heat grinding uses microwave to heat up and weaken
adhered mortar. When a low W/C ratio was used to prepare the the original ITZs between the virgin aggregate and the adhered
new concrete, the new ITZs were less porous than the original ITZs mortar. Then mechanical grinding can effectively remove the
which was more critical in affecting the properties of the hardened adhered mortar to obtain the high quality RCA.
concrete. When the W/C ratio of the original concrete was high, the
strength of new concrete was controlled by the new ITZs (Ryu, 3) Heat grinding
2002). The higher the strength of the original concrete was, the
less porous the ITZs of recycled concrete was (Poon et al., 2004). Crushed recycled concrete was heated at around 300
C to
Therefore, it is of interest to enhance the properties of RCA to make dehydrate the adhered mortar and make it more embrittle, before
them comparable to those of NA. The challenges in RCA include grinding them in a mill. Generally, the higher the heating temper-
how to effectively reduce the absorption and porosity of RCA, and ature, the easier the mortar can be removed. However, when the
that can improve the durability of the RCA. temperature is higher than 500
C, the properties of RCA may be
degraded. Using this method, Tateyashiki et al. (2001) obtained
2. Enhancement treatments high quality RCA by heating then grinding the crushed concrete.
However, Ma et al. (2009) heated concrete from C&D wastes at
Removing and strengthening the adhered mortar are the two 750
C to separate aggregates from the cement paste because
common methods for improving the properties of RCA. Table 1 limestone start to decompose at 750
C.
summarized the methods for improving the properties of RCA
and these are described more in details in the following sections. 3.2. Pre-soaking in water

3. Removal of adhered mortar Pre-soaking in water can separate impurities and obtain higher
quality RCA. Katz (2004) adopted ultrasonic water cleaning repet-
Mechanical grinding, pre-soaking in water/acid are the common itively to remove the weak adhered mortar until the water was
methods to remove the adhered mortar. Mechanical grinding is a clear. They found that it was effective in removing the adhered
popular treatment because of the simple procedure to produce high mortar, and increased the compressive strength of the recycled
quality RCA (Sun and Xiao, 2004). However, mechanical grinding aggregate concrete; but the strength increase was about 7% at 28
could easily damage RCA due to collision and grinding by intro- days. Although this method could effectively wash away loose,
ducing micro-cracks. weak adhered mortar, stronger mortar cannot be removed.

3.1. Mechanical grinding 3.3. Pre-soaking in acid

The adhered mortar can be separated as much as possible from The hydration products of cement in hardened paste can be
the natural aggregate using crushing and ball-milling, which can dissolved in acid solution. Thus, acidic solution can be used to
also improve the shape of aggregates due to collision and peeling- remove the adhered mortar effectively and enhance the quality of
off effects. The mechanical grindings include following types (Gjorv RCA. Tam et al. (2007) used three 0.1 mol acids, which were hy-
and Sakai, 1999): drochloric acid (HCl), sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and phosphoric acid

Table 1
Enhancement treatments for RCA.

Enhancement methods Physical treatment Reference Chemical treatment Reference

Removing adhered mortar Mechanical grinding Gjorv and Sakai, 1999; Montgomery Pre-soaking in acid Tam et al., 2007
1998; Tateyashiki et al., 2001; Ma et al.,
2009
Pre-soaking in water Katz, 2004 e e
Strengthening adhered mortar Polymer emulsion Kou and Poon 2010; Zhu et al., 2013; Pozzolanic solution Katz, 2004; Shayan and Xu 2003; Tam
Spaeth and Djerbi Tegguer, 2014; (or mixed with little et al., 2005; Tam and Tam 2008; Kong
Tsujino et al., 2007; Wan et al., 2004; cement) et al., 2010; Li et al., 2010; Du et al.,
Qiu, 2003 2002;
Filler lime power or Shayan and Xu 2003; Grabiec et al., Sodium silicate Spaeth and Djerbi Tegguer, 2014;
calcium carbonate 2012 Shayan and Xu 2003; Cheng and Wang,
biodeposition 2005; Pelisser et al., 2011
e e Carbonation Kou et al., 2014
468 C. Shi et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 112 (2016) 466e472

Table 2
Properties of RCA before and after pre-soaking treatments (Tam et al., 2007).

Properties of recycled aggregate Size of aggregate (mm) Before pre-soaking treatment After pre-soaking treatments

ReMortarHCl ReMortarH2 SO4 ReMortarH3 PO4

Water absorption (%) 20 1.6500 1.4500 1.4800 1.5300

10 2.6300 2.3100 2.3700 2.4100
Chloride content (%) 20 0.0016 0.0025 0.0001 0.0001
10 0.0012 0.0056 0.0001 0.0001
Sulphate content (%) 20 0.0025 0.0076 0.1090 0.0110
10 0.0025 0.0082 0.1040 0.0109
Value of pH 20 10.4600 9.0700 8.9500 8.5500
10 11.6300 9.3400 9.3500 9.3300

(H3PO4), and soaked for 24 h to remove the adhered mortar of RCA. paste and the aggregate (Mansur et al., 2007), and reduced water-
Since all the reaction products of HCl could be dissolved in water, to-cement ratio in the ITZs. The compressive strength and
some reaction products of H2SO4 tended to crystallize and the shrinkage of concrete made with RCA immerged with 10% PVA
products of H3PO4 were unstable, and HCl was found to be the most were significantly improved, as shown in Table 4. Also, Wan et al.
effective acid. The properties of RCA before and after acid pre- (2004) adopted a commercially available 1% PVA solution to treat
soaking are summarized in Table 2. It can be seen that the water RCA, and found that the workability and compressive strength of
absorption of RCA decreased significantly after the pre-soaking and the concrete made with the treated RCA were enhanced.
the chloride and sulphate contents increased but still under the Silicon-based water repellent polymers have already been
stipulated limits for aggregates. Besides, the pH values slightly proved an effective enhancement treatment (Zhao et al., 2011),
dropped, but the pore solution was still in alkaline condition. The which include silane, siloxane or both. The particle size of siloxane
process increases concrete production cost, which is the obstacle polymer is larger than that of silane. Thus, silane-based polymer
for the implementation of this approach. can penetrate into the adhered mortar more easily than siloxane-
based polymer. Also, the silane-based polymer can form a cross-
4. Strengthening adhered mortar linked film with good water repellent capacity. Zhu et al. (2013)
used silane-based polymers to treat recycled aggregate concrete
Pozzolanic solutions have been used to treat RCA for strength- using both the integral mixing and the surface coating treatments.
ening the adhered mortar. Besides, limestone powder/calcium It has been found that the surface coating treatment was more
carbonate deposition can fill the microvoids inside the adhered efficient in reducing the water absorption of concrete compared
mortar. Some treatment materials can form a water-repellent with the integral treatment. However, it also decreased the
coating on the surface of RCA. Filling the weak areas and devel- compressive strength of the concrete. The reason might due to the
oping stronger ITZs on the RCA are the main goals. hydrolysis of silane, positive silanol groups could permeate into the
porous regions of the cement paste to make part of paste hydro-
phobic (Spaeth et al., 2008). Spaeth and Djerbi Tegguer (2014) used
4.1. Polymer emulsion
siloxane or silane polymer solutions with different concentrations
to soak RCA. Sodium silicate was added into one siloxane/silane
Polymer emulsions have adhesive properties and can solidify in
solution because it could enhance the hydrolysis and promote
a short period of time. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) emulsion and silane-
condensation of siloxane/silane to form a thin hydrophobic film.
base polymers are water repellent and can be used to reduce the
The results also showed that silane-based polymers treated RCA
water absorption of porous materials. Several polymers have been
could decrease water absorption of the concrete and the efficiency
applied on cementitious materials (Büttner and Raupach, 2008;
changed with different types of polymer used. Tsujino et al. (2007)
Schueremans et al., 2008; Kim et al., 1999). If RCA was immersed
adopted a paraffin based material to treat RCA through repeated
in a polymer emulsion, the polymer molecules can fill the pores of
the adhered mortar and seal the surfaces of the RCA. Kou and Poon
(2010) reported that the physical and mechanical properties of RCA
Table 4
were improved by treating with 6, 8, 10 and 12% PVA solution
Compressive strength relative to the control sample (Kou and Poon, 2010).
(Table 3). The results shown that the water absorption of the PVA-
impregnated RCAs (PI-RCA) decreases as the PVA concentration Age (days) Control R-100 PR(O)-100 PR(A)-100
increases. The 12% PVA solution only gave slightly better results 3 1 0.86 0.79 0.85
than 10% PVA solution. Therefore, 10% PVA solution was the rec- 7 1 0.92 0.86 0.88
ommended concentration for RCA impregnation. PVA impregna- 28 1 0.89 0.90 0.94
90 1 0.91 0.95 0.99
tion could also increase the bonding strength between the cement

Table 3
Physical properties of NA, RCA and 10% PVA-treated RCA (Kou and Poon, 2010).

Property Particle size (mm) Aggregate types

Natural granite Recycled concrete PVA-modified (oven-dried) PVA-modified (air-dried)

Density (kg/m3) 20 2662 2423 2466 2472

10 2583 2356 2378 2385
Water absorption (%) 20 0.68 6.23 2.39 1.62
10 0.87 7.76 4.32 2.38
10% fine value (KN) 14 168 120 003154 158
 C. Shi et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 112 (2016) 466e472 469

spraying and drying cycles. Paraffin could react with calcium hy-
droxide in the adhered mortar to produce alkali metal salts and
alcohol. Alkali metal salts are rigid carboxylic acid salts which are
insoluble and could form a water-repellent film on the surface of
RCA. The water absorption of RCA was reduced with the number of
spraying and drying cycles. Qiu (2003) applied 1% PVA and naph-
thalene superplasticizer to treat RCA respectively. The results
showed that both reduced the water absorption of RCA. Super-
plasticizer treatment could improve the bonding strength between
the aggregate and the cement matrix compared with PVA.
In genera, polymer treatment can improve the quality of RCA
and enhance the workability and durability of recycled aggregate
concrete as well. However, They cannot enhance but even reduce
the compressive strength of the concrete. The reasons might due to
the positive polymer groups permeate into the cement paste and
make it hydrophobic, which hinders the hydration of the unhy-
drated cement in the paste. At the same time, the formation of
water-repellent film weakens the bonding strength between the
aggregate and cement matrix. Fig. 2. Unfilled crack in RCA using NMA (Tam et al., 2005).

4.2. Pozzolan slurry

reaction and filler effect of silica fume performed effectively
because of its high specific surface area (Shannag, 2000). Thus, the
The negative effect of RCA on durability properties of mixes has
microstructure of RCA was much denser and the ITZs were obvi-
also been noticed, which can be mitigated by incorporating a
ously improved by adding silica fume as shown in Fig. 3. Kong et al.
certain amount of mineral admixtures, such as fly ash and volcanic
(2010) proposed a novel triple mixing method based on TSMA.
ash (Kou and Poon, 2012). If RCA are sprayed with or immersed in a
Compared with TSMA, the triple mixing approach could further
pozzolanic material slurry especially those containing silica fume
improve the properties of the RCA, the microstructure of ITZs and
can fill the pores and voids inside the adhered mortars, and then
the recycled aggregate concrete. Katz (2004) noticed that silica
react with calcium hydroxide to form CeSeH gel. Treatment with
fume could improve the properties of RCA better and recycled
silica fume could improve the microstructure of both ITZs in RCA
aggregate concrete than ultrasonic water cleaning of RCA. Shayan
concrete as reported from previous researches (Tam et al., 2005;
and Xu (2003) immerged RCA in a lime solution and silica fume
Katz, 2004). Tam et al. (2005) proposed a two-stage mixing
solution, which found that silica fume could improve the properties
approach (TSMA) to treat RCA. In the TSMA, recycled aggregate,
of RCA better.
cement with pozzolanic materials and half of the required water
Du et al. (2002) used cement paste, cement paste with fly ash,
were pre-mixed. TSMA would produce a thin layer of cement slurry
cement paste added with waterproof powder additive to treat RCA.
on the surfaces of RCA and improved the quality of the adhered
They found that the treatment with cement containing waterproof
mortar. Therefore, the ITZs between RA and new mortar were
powder improved the properties of RCA better than the pastes.
significantly strengthened. Figs. 1 and 2 provided the images of the
The efficiency of the pozzolan slurry treatment relays on the
microstructures of the ITZ in the recycled aggregate concrete pre-
particle size, calcium hydroxide content in the adhered mortar,
treated with TSMA (Tam et al., 2005). Babu et al. (2014) examined
alkalinity of pore solution and, the reactivity of the pozzolanic
the influence of different mixing techniques and concluded that the
materials. Thus, nano-SiO2 was efficient in improving the proper-
modified TSMAs enhanced the strength and durability properties of
ties of RCA due to small size and high reactivity (Singh et al., 2013).
RA concrete, when compared to new mixing approach (NMA).
Tam and Tam (2008) also replaced 2% of the required cement
with silica fume in the pre-mixing procedure. The pozzolanic 4.3. Calcium carbonate biodeposition

Calcium carbonate biodeposition is based on the ability of bac-

teria to precipitate calcium carbonate on the surface of the cell wall
due to the presence of adequate negative zeta potential. Grabiec
et al. (2012) adopted biodeposition technique to treat RCA using
bacteria called S. pasteurii, which were inoculated with liquid cul-
ture medium derived from urea. The biodeposition process can be
described as follows:

Sp.cell þ Ca2þ/Sp.cell-Ca2þ (1)

CO(NH2)2 þ 2H2O / 2NHþ 2

4 þ CO3 (2)

Sp.cell-Ca2þþCO2
3 / Sp.cell-CaCO3 (3)

S. pasteurii cell could attract Ca2þ and produce calcium car-

bonate by reacting with CO2 3 originating from urea hydrolysis.
Simultaneously, ammonia ions increased pH value of the sur-
rounding medium which improved calcium carbonate precipitation
Fig. 1. Filled crack in RCA using TSMA (Tam et al., 2005). efficiency. Biodeposition could decrease the water absorption of
470 C. Shi et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 112 (2016) 466e472

Fig. 3. Microstructure of RCA after adopting: i) NMA, ii) TSMAs, iii)TSMAsc (Tam and Tam, 2008).

RCA, especially for finer RCA derived from inferior quality concrete Ca(OH)2 þ CO2 / CaCO3þH2O (5)
as shown in Fig. 4.
CeSeH þ CO2 / CaCO3þSiO2$nH2O (6)
4.4. Sodium silicate solution
The carbonation of calcium hydroxide and CeSeH increased the
Sodium silicate solution can react with calcium hydroxide to solid volume by 11.5% and 23.1%, respectively. Thus, carbonation
form CeSeH gel as follows: can reduce the porosity of the adhered mortar. Calcium hydroxide
exists in solid and liquid phases forms in concrete. Solid calcium
Na2SiO3 þ Ca(OH)2 þ H2O / CeSeH þ NaOH (4) hydroxide mainly exists on the wall of pores. CO2 can react with
liquid calcium hydroxide more easily which forms solid calcium
Chen et al. (2006) used 5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% sodium sili- carbonate filled the pores and voids of cement paste (Thiery et al.,
cate solution to soak RCA for 1 h, 5 h and 24 h. The results found 2007).
that the concentration and soaking time affected the properties of Calcium hydroxide in hydrated cement paste cannot react
RCA significantly. The optimum concentration was 5% with 1 h completely, and remains in appreciable amount (Groves et al., 1991;
soaking time. However, the higher concentration and longer soak- Thiery et al., 2007). Thus, calcium carbonate produced by carbon-
ing time will result in the compressive strength of the RCA reduced. ation can form a dense coating around partially reacted calcium
Sodium silicate solution might form a continuous layer of sodium hydroxide crystal. Therefore, the further dissolution of solid cal-
silicate on the surfaces of RCA (Shayan and Xu, 2003). However, the cium hydroxide and the further diffusion of CO2 were harder.
sodium silicate treatment might introduce alkalis which increased Carbonation of CeSeH begins with decalcification (Chen et al.,
the risk of alkaliesilica reaction. 2006; Borges et al., 2010) such as calcium ions in the interlayer
reacting with carbonate ions in the pore. Decalcification would
cause formation of SieOH groups, and then forms silica gel. Also,
4.5. Carbonation
ettringite (AFt) and monosulfate hydrates (AFm) can also react with
CO2. The reactions of hydration products were different (Groves
Calcium hydroxide and hydrated calcium silicate are the main
et al., 1991; Thiery et al., 2007; Chen et al., 2006; Borges et al.,
hydration products of the adhered mortar on RCA. CO2 can enter
2010). Sorochkin et al. (1975) considered calcium hydroxide was
into the pores of adhered mortar and react with these reaction
the first phase that was attacked during the early ages of carbon-
products as follows (Groves et al., 1991; Papadakis et al., 1991;
ation. However, Slegers and Rouxhet (1976) considered that CO2
Castellote et al., 2009):
simultaneously reacted with CeSeH and calcium hydroxide. The
calculation showed that the PCO2 (CO2 partial pressure) needed by
carbonation of calcium hydroxide was 1013.11 while the PCO2
needed by CeSeH was 108.27. Therefore, the carbonation rate of
calcium hydroxide may be initially more rapid than that of CeSeH,
but with the formation of calcium carbonate, calcium hydroxide
carbonation rate decreased correspondingly (Borges et al., 2010).
Some researchers used carbon dioxide to cure concrete recently.
Shao (2010) concluded that Portland cement could consume more
than 14% CO2 by the mass of dry cement in a concrete mix after two
hours of carbonation curing, and the strength was comparable to
that after 7 d conventional curing.
Shi et al. (2012a,b,c) proposed the pre-conditioning technology
to accelerate and to enhance CO2 curing of concrete. After appro-
priate pre-conditioning, the strength of concrete cured with CO2 for
2 h was similar to that of the concrete cured with steam for 24 h.
Additionally, the CO2 cured concrete had lower porosity, water
adsorption, and shrinkage than the steam cured concrete. The
Fig. 4. Water absorption of recycled concrete aggregate before and after biodeposition
strength of concrete specimens were continue to increase with
(Grabiec et al., 2012). (A-w/c ¼ 0.45, fraction 6e8 mm; B-w/c ¼ 0.45, fraction
12e16 mm; C-w/c ¼ 0.7, fraction 6e8 mm; D-w/c ¼ 0.7, fraction 12e16 mm). time as the specimens were cured in moist condition after the CO2
 C. Shi et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 112 (2016) 466e472 471

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Financial supports from National Science Foundation of China Recycled Concrete Aggregate-proceedings of the International Symposium Held
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