All that you need to know about a new process for recycling concrete with the addition of discarded wood

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have invented a new process for recycling concrete by adding discarded wood. The process yields a new building material with superior bending strength to the original material.

Concrete is the most common building item, but because of the large number of CO2 emissions it produces while production, it has come under observation. Until now, concrete recycling includes crushing chunks of concrete and adding them as aggregate in the new concrete. However, most CO2 emissions are released in cement production, another concrete component.

The Tokyo researchers used lignin rather than cement to make more eco-friendly recycled concrete. Lignin is the material that offers wood its rigidity. Extracted from waste wood, the lignin acts as an adhesive when mixed with waste concrete powder. This mixture is pressed and heated.

In the correct ratio, the ingredients offer material with superior bending strength than the actual material. The method can also involve lignin from other waste plant matter.