SeRaMCo: Secondary Raw Materials for Concrete Precast Products


Project Summary

The construction sector is the most resource intensive industrial sector in the EU. It uses around 50% of the available primary raw materials, hence exhausting the natural resources, degrading environment and generating high costs to the business operators.

Although there is potential for the use of secondary raw materials from construction and demolition waste (CDW), this is far from becoming mainstream in Europe. For the time being, the sector uses only 4% of the recycled construction and demolition waste (CDW), although CDW represents the largest waste stream in the EU, accounting for 1/3 of the overall European waste.

Against this background, this situation is not dire in the whole of Europe. Some North-Western Europe (NWE) countries, namely Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands are leading the way in recycling CDW. Depending on the individual country, these rates range from 70-95%.

However, although waste recycling rates in NWE are impressive, business operators from the construction sector are still faced with challenges in placing their recycled products on the market. This is primarily due to the fact that there is still no niche market for concrete products made from the recycled materials.  The lack of a niche market is accompanied by the lack of a clear-cut legislative framework in certain NWE states and inability to make precise cost estimations reflecting both social and economic costs of the production.

To make the most out of the available resources, SeRaMCo aims to replace primary raw materials with the high-quality materials recycled from CDW, e.g. concrete, bricks, tiles and ceramics (CBTC), in production of the cement and concrete products for use in NWE. To attain this goal, the project will:

  • analyse and improve sorting of CDW, as a precondition for successful recycling;

  • develop and test new concrete mixes and technologies for the production of concrete precast products (CPPs) made from the recycled CBTC;

  • establish a market niche for CPPs, leading to the economic advantages for the CPP producers and generating new jobs in the construction sector.

SeRaMCo’s expected outputs are cement and CPPs from up to 100% recycled aggregates, comparable to conventional products both in terms of costs and quality, and ready for commercialization in NWE.

Prior to rolling-out across NWE and Europe as a whole, SeRaMCo will test its end-products in 3 pilot areas, namely City of Seraing (Belgium), City of Saarlouis (Germany) and Region of Moseille (France). Following the testing phase, previously developed business models, supporting the supply chain of the new market niche and establishing ecosystem with stakeholders active in the field, will be put in place.

Project Partners

  • PREFER

    110 Sart d'Avette
    Flémalle
    4400
    Belgium

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  • Beton - Betz GmbH

    46 Rappenauer Str.
    Kirchardt
    74912
    Germany

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  • Vicat

    16 Route de Pierreville
    Xeuilley
    54990
    France

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  • Schuttelaar & Partners

    199, bus 22 Belliardstraat
    Brussels
    1040
    Belgium

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  • TRADECOWALL SCRL - Traitement des Déchets de Construction en Wallonie

    24 Rue du Tronquoy
    Fernelmont
    5380
    Belgium

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  • Université de Liège

    9 Quartier Polytech - Allée de la découverte
    LIEGE
    4000
    Belgium

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  • University of Luxembourg

    162 A Avenue de la Faïencerie
    Luxembourg (LU)
    L-1511
    Luxembourg

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  • Université de Lorraine

    34 cours Léopold
    Nancy cedex
    CS 25233 54052
    France

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  • Delft University of Technology

    134 Julianalaan
    Delft
    2628
    Netherlands

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  • Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, Environment, Mobility, and Urban and Country Planning

    71 rue de la Grande Haie
    Nancy cedex
    54510
    France

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  • Technische Universität Kaiserslautern

    14 Paul-Ehrlich-Str.
    Kaiserslautern
    67663
    Germany

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Lead partner

Organisation Address Email Website
Technische Universität Kaiserslautern 14 Paul-Ehrlich-Str.
Kaiserslautern
67663
Germany
christian.glock@bauing.uni-kl.de www.bauing.uni-kl.de/massivbau/home
Name Contact Name Email Country
PREFER Bolle René bolle.rene@group-portier.be Belgium
Beton - Betz GmbH Herbert Kahmer gf@syspro.org Germany
Vicat Laury Barnes-Davin laury.barnes-davin@vicat.fr France
Schuttelaar & Partners Bea Rofagha bea.rofagha@schuttelaar-partners.com Belgium
TRADECOWALL SCRL - Traitement des Déchets de Construction en Wallonie Mariage Thibault tm@tradecowall.be Belgium
Université de Liège Luc Courard Luc.Courard@ulg.ac.be Belgium
University of Luxembourg Danièle Waldmann daniele.waldmann@uni.lu Luxembourg
Université de Lorraine André Lecomte andre.lecomte@univ-lorraine.fr France
Delft University of Technology Ulrich Knaack u.knaack@tudelft.nl Netherlands
Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, Environment, Mobility, and Urban and Country Planning Davy Prybyla davy.prybyla@cerema.fr France

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