Energy-efficient concrete could reduce road closures

The road type, made of dry-mix concrete reinforced with recycled steel fibres from waste tyres, is 12 per cent cheaper than conventional road construction and its construction time is 15 per cent less. In addition, over the lifetime of the concrete pavement, there is a 40 per cent reduction in energy consumption.

Each year in the EU, 3.2m tons of tyres are produced annually − all of which have to be recycled. However, 15-25 per cent of the tyre is comprised of steel fibres, which hold a lot of rubber and plastic from the reinforcement, limiting the options for reuse in new steel production.

The new fibre-reinforced concrete, developed by the team at Sheffield and their EU partners as part of the Ecolanes FP6 project, is able to use processed steel fibres for the first time. These steel fibres from post-consumer tyres are at least 50 per cent cheaper than manufactured steel fibre reinforcement and using the fibres from waste tyres means there is no need for raw material to be mined and formed, which would require extra energy.