Innovative Circular Economy Based solutions demonstrating the Efficient recovery of valuable material Resources from the Generation of representative End-of-Life building materials

Project Information

ICEBERG

Grant agreement ID: 869336

DOI

10.3030/869336

Project closed

EC signature date 17 April 2020

Start date 1 May 2020

End date 30 April 2024

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 15 667 498,04

EU contribution

€ 12 997 935,90

Coordinated by

FUNDACION TECNALIA RESEARCH & INNOVATION
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ICEBERG (Innovative Circular Economy Based solutions demonstrating the Efficient recovery of valuable material Resources from the Generation of representative End-of-Life building materials)

Reporting period: 2023-05-01 to 2024-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Construction, renovation and demolition waste (CDW) is one of the heaviest and most voluminous waste streams generated in the EU28 (374 Mt/year, excluding excavation waste). While recovery rates are commendable, they often rely on backfilling operations and low-grade recovery. Uncompetitive pricing and a lack of trust in the quality of secondary materials hinder better recycling practices.
Circular economy-inspired actions can enhance waste prevention and improve recycling quality. The EC adopted in 2015 a first Circular Economy (CE) Package with measures prioritizing End of Life Building materials among others. A CE action plan was launched in March 2020 as a prerequisite to achieve the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality target and to halt biodiversity loss.

ICEBERG aims to design, develop, demonstrate and validate advanced technologies for the production of high-purity secondary raw materials (>92%w) through 6 circular case studies (CCS) across Europe, covering circularity of cement concrete, mixed aggregates, wood, plasterboard, glass, polymeric insulating foams and super-insulation materials.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

ICEBERG has generated cross-cutting integrated smart solutions that encompass three innovative circular reverse logistics’ strategies: an upgraded BIM-aided-Smart Demolition tool to support planning, waste streams quantification, environmental and economic assessment of renovation and demolition works; a blockchain-based traceability platform for end-of-life building materials (EBM); and a RFID and QR based identification and authentication system.
ICEBERG has developed novel technologies for the recovery of EBM, which include: hyperspectral imaging (HSI) machine-learning software to increase automatic sorting efficiency of mixed fractions; an integrated crushing, sorting and cleaning optimized system and fast pyrolysis and purification processes for wood fractions; thermal attrition mobile unit integrated with LIBS and carbonation for concrete; acid purification treatment to increase the purity of recycled plasterboard; a combined process of purification and solvolysis for polymeric insulating foams; advanced hydrothermal and supercritical based processing of glass and silica containing waste.

Circular design solutions for greater circularity of EBM and production of innovative circular building products with high purity and recycled content (30% – 100%) have been also implemented. This includes:
• eco-hybrid cement containing CSA cement, blended cement and recycled EBM (19.5% glass or brick, 12.5% concrete and 2% gypsum)
• precast steel reinforced concrete elements with recycled concrete aggregates and reversible connections
• ultra-lightweight non-structural green foam concrete panels
• green woodchip concrete panels
• demountable precast hollow-core blocks with no cement, produced by vibrating press and accelerated carbonation using Carbstone technology
• circular ceramic wall tiles with almost 70% of recycled materials from manufacturing and CDW
• phenol-formaldehyde resin obtained from bio-oil
• recycled wood chips flexible panels
• circular plasterboards with 35% recycled gypsum
• recovered PUR insulation boards.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Three digital tools have been developed : i) a new BIM-aided-Smart Pre-Demolition (BIM4DW) tool to enable a higher accuracy estimate of End-of-life Building Materials (EBM) in pre-demolition waste audits; ii) an innovative Identification and Authentication Toolkit (IAT) to store, ensure the quality and wirelessly update properties of both reused building components and recovered EBM from the EoL building stage to new buildings; and iii) a novel digital EBM traceability service based on a Cloud Traceability Platform (CTP) covering the whole circular building supply chain. Functional versions of the three tools have been developed and separately demonstrated in lab conditions (IAT for concrete), virtual cases (CTP) and full-scale demolition projects (BIM4DW).

A mobile automatic sorting tool for the industrial scale processing of building demolition waste was developed. The technology relies on the use of Near Infrared Hyperspectral Imaging (HIS) to identify the composition of individual fragments in mixed fractions. Wavelength scan of 200-2500 nm of the unmixed materials was performed obtaining UV-VIS-NIR spectra. The HIS camera parameters were adjusted for an optimal scanning and acquiring hyperspectral images of the reference materials. The design and manufacturing of the mobile sorting prototype has been completed.

The diverse technologies for purification, recycling and quality assessment of the six (6) building waste streams addressed in ICEBERG have been developed.

Formulations for new circular green building products with high quantities of recovered building materials have been tested:
• Formulations and properties of eight (8) blended cements, compared to cement CEM I 42.5.
• Concrete formulations with up to 100% of recycled aggregates, 3 different strength classes and conventional and eco-hybrid cement.
• Preliminary analysis, experimental test and numerical models on precast structural concrete elements and demountable connections.
• Ultra-lightweight concrete formulations (2 groups of 8 and 7 dosages, respectively) for later non-structural elements.
• Woodchip concrete (10 formulations) mixing and testing.
• Recycled concrete fines and fine aggregates compaction and carbonation at specimen level for later hollow blocks.
• Characterisation of ceramic and non-ceramic materials and trials on mixes under different sintering temperatures.
• Phenolic resin formulation using the bio-oil produced during the pyrolysis of wood waste.
• Insulation materials produced from wood waste for later insulating panels.
• Preliminary assessment and impact on productivity of plasterboards increasing the recycled gypsum content to 35 wt% at industrial scale.
• Integration of available recycled polyols (>10 wt%) in the formulation of PU aerogel and optimization of the reaction conditions.
• Screening of different polyols for later PU-based panels.

Finally these solutions have been demonstrated and validated in 6 large case studies and their environmental and economic impacts have been assessed.

At its end, the project has produced 27 acepted scientific publications and 4 patents.

ICEBERG concept