Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Microcapsule based self-healing in concrete

Abstract

Self-healing technologies provide the long-term resilience of concrete structures by enabling self-diagnose and self-repair of damages (aging cracks, cyclic load damages, and corrosion-induced cracks). However, self-healing technologies require special additives and materials in addition to the ones in conventional concrete. Hence, it is often perceived to have higher environmental impacts, and therefore, it is necessary to understand the same. This study is aimed to analyse the life cycle assessment (LCA) of concrete with microcapsules produced by different techniques to investigate the sustainability of these concretes. Two microcapsule techniques, namely complex coacervation and membrane emulsification, were studied at the laboratory scale and then projected to the industrial scale. The analysis shows that the concrete with microcapsules does not adversely impact the emissions in the production stage if supplementary cementitious materials are used. Further, if the beneficial effects of the self-healing technologies are considered in the use phase, the impacts are much lower. Thus, this assessment gives meaningful insights by identifying major impacts in the production of self-healing technologies and helps to improve their design and application in concrete.