1. SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES
1.1. Cement production
Cement is considered one of the most important materials used within the construction industry. Its production has rapidly grown over the previous decades given the social demand and need for infrastructure and housing globally. According to Schneider et al (2011), approximately 2.8 billion tonnes of cement are being produced annually worldwide. This figure is expected to grow by up to 4 billion tonnes a year. The manufacturing of cement creates a lot of hazardous by-products, some of which are cement kiln dust and carbon dioxide. Approximately 7% of the total CO2 emitted globally is attributed to the cement industry (Ramezanianpour, 2014). Coupled with the ever increasing demand for cement this leads to detrimental impacts on the environment.
1.2. Steel recycling
Shaping the infrastructure of today’s civilisation, steel has gained importance as one of the world’s most used materials as it has a wide range of applications. As presented by Yellishetty et al (2011), between 1950s and 2006 steel manufacturing has increased substantially from 187 to 1299 million tonnes, which can be …show more content…
Steel, in addition with other metals, consist of properties that allow sustainability to recover and recycle a fragment of materials produced, called steel scraps (Ernst Worrell and Markus Reuter. 2014). The recycling process of scraps has gained importance within the steel industry due to its environmental contribution. By reutilizing scraps the amount of waste that gets disposed in landfills is also reduced. Additionally, steel scraps provide a potential energy saving because of the refining process these materials have gone through, hence, less energy is required for additional processing, so CO2 emissions may also decrease (Yellishetty et al.
1.1. Cement production
Cement is considered one of the most important materials used within the construction industry. Its production has rapidly grown over the previous decades given the social demand and need for infrastructure and housing globally. According to Schneider et al (2011), approximately 2.8 billion tonnes of cement are being produced annually worldwide. This figure is expected to grow by up to 4 billion tonnes a year. The manufacturing of cement creates a lot of hazardous by-products, some of which are cement kiln dust and carbon dioxide. Approximately 7% of the total CO2 emitted globally is attributed to the cement industry (Ramezanianpour, 2014). Coupled with the ever increasing demand for cement this leads to detrimental impacts on the environment.
1.2. Steel recycling
Shaping the infrastructure of today’s civilisation, steel has gained importance as one of the world’s most used materials as it has a wide range of applications. As presented by Yellishetty et al (2011), between 1950s and 2006 steel manufacturing has increased substantially from 187 to 1299 million tonnes, which can be …show more content…
Steel, in addition with other metals, consist of properties that allow sustainability to recover and recycle a fragment of materials produced, called steel scraps (Ernst Worrell and Markus Reuter. 2014). The recycling process of scraps has gained importance within the steel industry due to its environmental contribution. By reutilizing scraps the amount of waste that gets disposed in landfills is also reduced. Additionally, steel scraps provide a potential energy saving because of the refining process these materials have gone through, hence, less energy is required for additional processing, so CO2 emissions may also decrease (Yellishetty et al.