Green Concrete vs Conventional Concrete: A Comparative Study

With the rapid urbanization, construction and demolition waste is generated in large scale. This waste comprises of hazardous material like insulation, nails, electric wiring, shingle, dredging materials, tree stumps and rubble. Construction waste also contains lead, asbestos and other hazardous materials. The major component of waste is made up of bricks, concrete, and wood. India generates 530 million tonnes of C&D waste annually estimated by the ministry of environment and forest. This waste is dumped in landfill sites or placed in roadsides or river sides which is the cause of reduction of natural resources and pollution like soil, air and water pollution. To reduce this threat for the future, we can recycle this waste to safeguard our environment. This study is based on replacement of natural coarse aggregate (NCA) by recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) thus creating a form of green concrete. The main purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of using green concrete towards promotion of sustainable built environment and to examine the alternative techniques to reduce consumption of natural aggregates, sand and cement. Focus was also to Investigate the compressive strength properties of green concrete made out with RA and compare its performance to ordinary concrete and to Determine the benefits of using green concrete for which concrete was collected from different sites of Greater Noida and then was crushed to procure coarse aggregate of size 10 mm. Concrete of M20 grade was prepared and casted into 21 moulds of size 150mm×150mm×150 mm, different percentages of RCA were used to replace NCA viz. 0%, 50%, 100%. Seven cubes of each percentage were casted to get optimum results and were tested for compressive strength and density after 7, 14, and 28 days. The experimental analysis showed that compressive strength for 0%, 50% and 100% replacement of NCA by RCA where recorded as 30.66 N/mm2, 28.88 N/mm2, and 22.22 N/mm2 respectively after 28 days.