Implementing LCA in the development of environment friendly binders for soil treatment, waterproofing and roads application in the Walloon Region (ECOLISER)

The building and construction sector plays a crucial role in our wellbeing. However, construction consumes more than 30% of the global resources and is responsible for the generation of more than 40% of the total solid waste volume. By consequence, there is a growing concern over making this sector more sustainable by the application of eco-design together with the improvement of resource efficiency and management.
The ECOLISER project aims to develop environment friendly binder formulations based on secondary materials and industrial byproducts (slag, blast furnace ash, fly ash, etc.).
This project’s main objective is to minimize the impact of human activity on the environment in the Walloon region (Belgium), focusing on the industrial sector. The rehabilitation of brownfield sites into areas for new industries plays a significant role as well as limiting the landfill of industrial byproducts.
There are 3 types of alternative environment friendly binders targeted: for the stabilization of soils, for soil sealing and tightness, and the installation of reactive waterproofing barriers to fix heavy metals and micropollutants from percolating water and the production of cohesive materials for road infrastructure.
The first phase of this project is the global validation stage (experimental pilot site). Afterwards, a phase of constant evaluation of the performance of the technological solutions is applied in terms of sustainable development. This is achieved by using the life cycle assessment (LCA).
This LCA aims to study the potential environmental impacts produced by 1 km of road in Belgium. A road with hydrocarbon coating and a concrete road type are studied. These cases are compared to a road using the best proportion of the ECOLISER binders. In addition, to analyze the stabilization of soils upstream of road construction, LCAs are carried out for the conventional treatment of 3 types of soil: sandy, clayey and loamy.
The methods recommended by ILCD were chosen to evaluate the environmental impact of the road (European Commission JRCIES, 2011). The modeling is performed in Simapro software, using Ecoinvent 3.9 databases.
Eco-design practices will result in reducing the environmental footprint of the ECOLISER binders compared to current products used in road construction. Globally, and in a circular economy perspective, this project promotes one of the promising solutions to preserve natural resources as well as limiting the landfill of this byproducts.