Artificial Aggregate From non Metallic Automotive Shredder Residue

Until 2005 in the European Union (EU) approximately 12 M vehicles were yearly shredded, and 8 or 9 M t/year of waste was produced. About 14 million tons of End of Life Vehicles (ELVs) are foreseen by 2015. This huge amount of waste must be treated and disposed of in a sustainable way. The most common treatment technologies, involve ELVs shredding to recover iron and steel (70%) and non ferrous metals (5%) from vehicles. The remaining fraction, called Automotive Shredder Residue (ASR), and representing about 25% wt. of each vehicle, is generally landfilled. For more than two thirds, this last residue deals with combustible materials (fibers, polyethylene etc..), suitable to be reused as a fuel, but a substantial amount of soil particles, metals, glasses and plastics residues are also present. Consequently, a new sustainable way to reuse ASR is to separate the organic from the inorganic fraction, and use them in combustion plants, gasification and in the cement industry, respectively. Regarding this second way of recovery, several studies have been already successfully performed with the aim of transforming ASR into aggregates for asphalt or cement mixes, by thermal treatment followed by chemical treatment, or by physical processes, such as granulation. In this work, a selected fraction of non metallic automobile shredder residue was immobilized in granules produced at room temperature in a pilot scale granulator. Granules were obtained by mixing selected amount of ASR with a binder (cement or lime) in the presence of additions (fly ash) and admixtures. The final aim of this work was to investigate the mechanical properties of concrete samples produced using the artificial aggregate obtained through different combinations of ASR, fly ash and binder. Additional freeze and thaw tests were finally performed to assess concrete durability along time.