%0 Journal Article
%T Review of Research on and Implementation of Recycled Concrete Aggregate in the GCC
%A Akmal S. Abdelfatah
%A Sami W. Tabsh
%J Advances in Civil Engineering
%D 2011
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2011/567924
%X The goal of sustainable construction is to reduce the environmental impact of a constructed facility over its lifetime. Concrete is the main material used in construction in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Therefore, it makes economic and environmental sense to use recycled materials in the making of new concrete for different applications. The objectives of this study are to summarize published research on the use of recycled concrete aggregates in new concrete mixes and examine its implementation in construction and industry in the GCC region. The study showed that while there is reasonable research on recycled concrete, the practical implementation in the region greatly lacks behind, especially due to the lack of economic viability and awareness of such applications at the current time. 1. Introduction Members of the GCC in the Middle-East include the Persian Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The GCC countries occupy the area within the Arabian Peninsula, which is located in the southwestern region of the Asian continent. The strength of GCC countries lies in having 24¨C40% of World¡¯s conventional oil reserves and about 23% of world¡¯s conventional natural gas reserves. The weakness is related to having an arid weather, shortage of fresh water, and limited farming areas [1]. The Arabian Peninsula is a harsh environment with temperatures ranging between 7¡ã and 47¡ãC, and an average annual rainfall being between 70 and 140£¿mm [2]. Apart from the oil and gas sector, economy of most of the GCC countries depends to a large extent on the construction industry and infrastructure activities. This is due to recent initiatives undertaken by the local governments to diversify from an oil- and gas- dependent economy. Published statistics in the Arab Construction World magazine [3] indicate that the total value of real estate projects currently under construction in the GCC stands over US$2.39 trillion. However, the limited natural resources in the GCC have a great impact on this industry. Key aspects of the construction industry in the Gulf which have considerable effect on the environment are limited useable natural aggregates for making concrete, scarcity of fresh water sources, and lack of iron ore for producing steel. The Gulf is often seen as a region that lacks many of the natural resources required for concrete production. Concrete consists of 4 main ingredients: water, cement, sand, and aggregate. Water is locally available but is, for the most part, desalinated. While in some countries concrete
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ace/2011/567924/