Admixtures can improve the sustainability, quality and performance of concrete significantly, which in return extends its service life.
Thanks to the use of admixtures, the application of concrete instead of other building materials can improve the life cycle of infrastructures, i.e. concrete roads greatly improve the quality and durability of highways for main traffic arteries compared with conventional road surfacing.
The addition of special admixtures also enables the use of alternative and recycled materials, such as recycled aggregates, for the production of good quality concrete. And, in many cases the energy required to produce certain cement or concrete mixes will be positively impacted with the use of admixtures.
Sika admixture contribution to sustainable construction
Concrete admixture environmental product declaration
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a standardized way of communicating the environmental impact for a product or product group based on quantitative data from Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). EPDs are verified and certified by an independent third party.
EPD for Sika concrete admixtures are developed by EFCA and available for the most important product groups.
EFCA EPD’s for:
- Plastiment/Plastocrete
- Sikament/ SikaPlast
- Sika ViscoCrete/Sika ViscoFlow
- SikaRapid/Sigunit/Sika Antifreeze
- SikaAer/Sika WT
- Sika Retarder/SikaTard
Cumulative Energy Demand [MJ]
Total amount of primary energy from renewable and non-renewable resources.
Cumulative Energy Demand [MJ] for 1m3 concrete.
Global Warming Potential [kg C02-eq.]
Potential contribution to climate change due to greenhouse gases emissions.
Global warming potential [kg C02-eq.] for 1m3 concrete.
‘Green building’ certification programs
Over recent years, several countries and organizations have developed environmental certification programs for buildings, like LEED, BREEAM or DGNB. Practical experiences together with their new findings have led to continuing adaptation and extensions of these programs. The criteria for the different programs are similar, whilst the evaluation can still differ substantially. Most Green Building Certification Programs focus on assessing whole buildings, rather than individual building systems or products.
Sika Concrete Admixtures can contribute to making concrete fulfill several requirements within these programs, such as:
- Concrete durability
- Pervious concrete for storm water design
- Recycled content in concrete (aggregates or supplementary cementitious materials)
- Reduction of concrete impacts, optimisation of cement content and type
Input Water [m3]
Consumption of water for the concrete production.
Input Water [m3] for 1m3 concrete.
