Laser-based building material sorting for the processing of construction and demolition waste for the circular economy

A joint project of partners from industry and research institutions for the research and construction of an analysis system for an automated, sensor-supported sorting of construction and demolition waste will be presented. This is intended to supplement or replace the previously practiced manual sorting, which harbors many risks and dangers for the staff and only enables obvious, visually detectable differences for separation. The method of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy is to be used in combination with hyperspectral sensors. Due to the jointly processed information (data fusion), this should lead to a significant improvement in the separation of types. In addition to the sorting of different materials (concrete, main masonry building materials, organic components, glass, etc.), impurities such as SO3-containing building materials (gypsum, aerated concrete, etc.) could also be detected and separated. The subsequent recycling and sales opportunities are examined, such as the use of recycled aggregates in concrete, the recycling of building materials containing sulphate as a gypsum substitute for the cement industry or the agglomeration of synthetic lightweight aggregates for lightweight concrete or as a substrate for green roofs. At the same time, it is investigated whether soluble components (sulfates, heavy metals, etc.) can be detected by LIBS without a wet chemical analysis and what impact the recycling materials have on the environment. The entire value chain is examined using the example of the Berlin location in order to minimize economic / technological barriers and obstacles on a cluster level and to sustainably increase the recovery and recycling rates.