Awards for young scientists at Weimar ­Recycling Conference

On 19.09.-20.09.2016, more than 60 recycling specialists from teaching, research and industry met for the Recycling Conference in Weimar.

At the now eighth conference in this series established in 1999, the “Award for Young Building Materials Recycling Researchers” was presented by “Aufbereitung von Baustoffen und Wiederver-wertung (ABW e.V. – Society of Building Materials Processing and Recycling). Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anette Müller, ABW e.V., was delighted to choose the best from the host of applications this year.

The evening event for all the attendees between the two days of paper presentations provided the professional colleagues with a good opportunity for intensive discussion of their research findings.

More courage demanded from decision-makers

In his welcoming speech, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Ludwig, Bauhaus University of Weimar, stressed that concrete was one of the most sustainable building materials. He wished for more courage from the decision-makers, to push ahead with concrete recycling. In his subsequent paper, “CO₂-reduced cements for sustainable concrete”, he presented a summary of the research findings and profiled various additives and composite materials.

The “Award for Young Building Materials Recycling Researchers” went to Anna-Lena Höhn M.SC, Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, IBP Stuttgart, for her Master’s thesis on the subject “Using recycled concrete for the production of aerated concrete”. The two second places were shared by
Stephan Dose M.Sc., Bauhaus-University of Weimar, for his Master’s thesis on “Influence of recycled, carbonated aggregates on the fresh and hardened concrete properties of recycled concrete” and Stephanie Grümer M.Sc., HCU Hamburg, REAP University, for her Master’s thesis on “Economic and sustainable benefits of recyclable building materials in comparison with conventional building materials”.

Material streams, sorting,

concrete and wall-building materials, gypsum

The papers on these four main topics concerned building waste recycling and the wide-ranging possibilities for reuse.

Dr.-Ing. Elske Linss, Bauhaus-University of Weimar, reported, for instance, on “Sensor-controlled sorting of mineral building and demolition waste” and presented an optimized sorting process for building materials.

Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Breit, TU Kaisers-lautern, discussed “Current findings from the R-concrete research project”. The use of 10 % crushed sand flour resulted in no differences compared to the reference. In Switzerland, he explained, people were already working with this alternative. 10 % was not the top limit, as there was still room for a further increase.

Martin Reformat M.Sc., Bauhaus-University of Weimar, also spoke on the topic of crushed sand. In the “Mechanical activation of recycled concrete crushed sand – fundamental investigations”, unhydrated cement particles can be liberated by means of high-energy grinding. With increasing grinding energy, the X-ray amorphous fraction is lowered.

In the final session, gypsum recycling was on the agenda. Gypsum is regarded as a disruptive element in building materials recycling, therefore separate recycling of building waste and gypsum waste is desirable. Besides plaster board recycling, the selective removal of gypsum plaster is important.

To close the event, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Anette Müller presented “Recycling strategies – review and outlook”.

The 9th conference is planned for autumn 2019.

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