Work

Comparative study of environmental impacts of extraction of aggregate and loader equipment

Year: 2025

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to investigate the environmental impact of the different aggregate extraction equipment used in the production of concrete. Different front-end loaders available on the market were compared. Using the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) method, several environmental impacts including carbon footprint, ozone depletion and human toxicity per unit mass of concrete were analysed in SimaPro software. The average carbon footprint of the extraction process using the construction loader was estimated at 0.413 kg CO₂ eq per cubic metre of concrete, with the studied mix containing 1267 kg of gravel. The maximum observed difference in GWP values was 31.98%, while the average difference for most models was between 10% and 15%. The results show that using the right type of loader not only reduces costs, but also improves the final environmental profile of the concrete. By choosing the optimal loader equipment, CO2 savings in the concrete plant can reach the value of 5,200 kg CO₂ eq/year.

Source: E3S Web of Conferences

DOI: 10.1051/e3sconf/202564101011

Authors: Martin Jas, Adriana Estokova, Vojtech Vaclavik, Tomas Dvorsky, Martin Halik, Jan Foltyn

Institutions: Technical University of Košice, VSB - Technical University of Ostrava

Language: English

Topic: Environmental Impact and Sustainability

Subfield: Environmental Engineering

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Climate action, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: Slovenská Akadémia Vied