Life cycle analysis of innovative building materials based on circular coffee ground supply chain

Abstract

The construction sector is widely recognized as one of the most polluting mainly due to its intensive exploitation of natural resources and large energy consumption to produce traditional building materials. In the last years, alternative building materials have been developed with the aim to reduce the environmental burden of this sector. In particular, the use of geopolymer mortars as alternative cementitious materials is gaining increasing acceptance among scientists. Numerous laboratory studies demonstrate their suitability for construction applications, highlighting the potential environmental benefits that can be obtained from their large-scale production. This study aims to perform a preliminary evaluation of the environmental performance of a geopolymer mortar, whose production includes the reuse of a food waste: Spent Coffee Ground (SCG). By using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, an environmental comparison with a traditional production of cement mortar was carried out on the basis of the Global Warming Potential (GWP) indicator.