Recycled waste glass as aggregate for lightweight concrete

Abstract

A granulated porous recycled waste glass (RWG), namely Poraver, derived from the differential separation of municipal solid waste, was used as aggregate in concrete formulations. On account of the intrinsically highly porous cellular structure of the reference materials, the concrete structures appeared particularly light and refractory to thermal effects. The use of this type of glass has been focused on the production of lightweight concrete that is able to improve thermal insulation in addition to demonstrating good mechanical properties. In this context, the thermal insulating properties of RWG-based cement conglomerates were analysed and compared with equivalent conglomerates produced by the use of expanded clays. Very promising results were obtained from the concrete prepared from a mixture of the recycled waste glass and expanded clays, in terms of the high mechanical resistance attributed to the clays coupled with lower thermal conductivity of expanded glass.