Written by Arc Innovations on January 12, 2018 in Case Studies

On September 13, 2013, the first commercial and industrial 0% Portland cement concrete was cast in South Africa at the Transnet City Deep Container Terminal.

Three large test sections were cast to review the longer-term durability, compressive strengths and abrasion resistance. The 0% Portland cement exceeded all specifications and out-performed the Portland cement concrete.

The standard 50MPa concrete on the project has up to 70% of the Portland cement replaced with pulverized fuel ash. All 77 000m3 of the old paving concrete was recycled as G5 material on the project and the small excess was sold through a BEE SME. This is the only project in South Africa to have recycled all 100% of its old concrete.

Murray & Roberts was awarded 2nd place in the 2014 Nedbank sustainability awards due to the ARC technology applied on this project.

Based on the original concrete designs with 35% replacement of Portland cement with PFA:

  • Reduction of 35% of carbon footprint related to all materials for concrete.
  • On award, an estimated concrete material CO2 equivalence of 18 782 610 kg.
  • On as-built, through application of ARC technology, final estimated concrete CO2 equivalence of 12 196 030 kg.
  • Total saving of 6 586 580 kg of CO2.
  • Economical Saving of R6.8M, increase of profit of 8.33% on concrete.
  • Further to this, the project specification required a minimum of 24% of the old concrete to be removed and.
    recycled, Murray & Roberts were able to recycle 100% of this material while increasing the profits by approximately R15M.
  • Total concrete 78 000m3.