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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable energy research in civil and environmental engineering evaluates the potential impact of the energy system and aims to uncover the strengths and weaknesses of an existing or proposed project. Therefore, it must be conducted with an objective approach to provide information upon which decisions can be based. In its simplest terms, the two criteria to judge a sustainable energy structure or system are the cost required and efficiency to be attained. There are many ongoing sustainable energy studies and projects in civil and environmental engineering. The results of sustainable energy research in civil and environmental engineering study could be used to analyze or further develop the energy system at other locations for projects that share similar conditions and environments.

This Special Issue will focus on the environmental and economic benefits of sustainable energy, system design, management, or strategies, with topics including: sustainability in infrastructure; sustainable construction; smart cities; resilient design; sustainable materials (reuse and recycling); renewable energy; LEED certified structures; sustainable energy efficiency and reliability; analysis of sustainable energy structures or systems; numerical modelling of sustainable energy structures or systems; experimental studies of sustainable energy structures or systems; economic feasibility of a sustainable energy system; reviews of sustainable energy structures or systems; net zero energy buildings; and life cycle assessment.

Reference:

Rafique, M.M.; Rehman, S.; Alhems, L.M. Developing zero energy and sustainable villages – a case study for communities of the future. Renew. Energ. 2018, 127, 565–574.

Prof. Dr. Byungik Chang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

LEED
renewable energy
net zero
sustainable development
sustainable energy system

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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9 pages, 1111 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Crumb Rubber Concentration and Plastic Coated Aggregates on the Rheological Performance of Modified Bitumen Asphalt

by Arun Kumar, Parveen Berwal, Abdullah I. Al-Mansour, Mohammad Amir Khan, Shamshad Alam, Seongkwan Mark Lee, Akash Malik and Amjad Iqbal

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 3907; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14073907 - 25 Mar 2022

Viewed by 2290

Abstract

The diminution of natural resource exploration, the retrieval of waste, and the structural modification of polymers by additives are the main contributions to sustainable development. The properties of bitumen are enhanced by the crumb rubber through effective bitumen modification techniques, which have environmental and economic advantages. In this study, plastic waste, plastic-coated aggregate (PCA), and bitumen were blended in order to enhance the engineering properties of the flexible pavement. In order to compute the composition of crumb rubber modified bitumen (CRMB), the adopted materials were subjected to the relevant experiments. PCA was a very effective material when compared to the standard bitumen road pavement. The recycling of waste crumb rubber and plastic was tested by adding them into the hot mix asphalt. The Marshall properties of standard (virgin) bituminous mix, CRMB grade 55, and plastic mix asphalt were studied in detail to explore the solutions for a sustainable environment. The comparison was performed between these two materials with the standard bitumen, which resulted in the CRMB and plastics being found as the most effective additions with robust properties such as low-cost material, high strength, long life usage, and un-harmful to nature. The optimal bitumen content was found to be 6.166%, 6.1%, and 5.833% for standard bitumen, crumb rubber modified bitumen, and plastic-coated aggregate, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Civil and Environmental Engineering)

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Review

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21 pages, 4108 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Review on the Effect of Metakaolin on the Chloride Binding of Concrete, Mortar, and Paste Specimens

by Reza Homayoonmehr, Ali Akbar Ramezanianpour, Faramarz Moodi, Amir Mohammad Ramezanianpour and Juan Pablo Gevaudan

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 15022; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su142215022 - 14 Nov 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1427

Abstract

Chloride binding is a complex phenomenon in which the chloride ions bind with hydrated Portland cement (PC) phases via physical and chemical mechanisms. However, the current utilization of clays as (Al)-rich supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as metakaolin (MK), can affect the chloride-binding capacity of these concrete materials. This state-of-the-art review discusses the effect of clay-based SCMs on physical and chemical chloride binding with an emphasis on MK as a high-reactivity clay-based SCM. Furthermore, the potential mechanisms playing a role in physical and chemical binding and the MK effect on the hydrated cement products before and after exposure to chloride ions are discussed. Recent findings have portrayed competing properties of how MK limits the physical chloride-binding capacity of MK-supplemented concrete. The use of MK has been found to increase the calcium silicate hydrates (CSH) content and its aluminum to silicon (Al/Si) ratio, but to reduce the calcium to silicon (Ca/Si) ratio, which reduces the physical chloride-binding capacity of PC-clay blended cements, such as limestone calcined clay cements (LC3). By contrast, the influence of MK on the chemical chloride capacity is significant since it increases the formation of Friedel’s salt due to an increased concentration of Al during the hydration of Portland cement grains. Recent research has found an optimum aluminum to calcium (Al/Ca) ratio range, of approximately 3 to 7, for maximizing the chemical binding of chlorides. This literature review highlights the optimal Al content for maximizing chloride binding, which reveals a theoretical limit for calcined clay addition to supplementary cementitious materials and LC3 formulations. Results show that 5–25% of replacements increase bound chloride; however, with a higher percentage of replacements, fresh and hardened state properties play a more pivotal role. Lastly, the practical application of four binding isotherms is discussed with the Freundlich isotherm found to be the most accurate in predicting the correlation between free and bound chlorides. This review discusses the effects of important cement chemistry parameters, such as cation type, sulfate presence, carbonation, chloride concentration, temperature, and applied electrical fields on the chloride binding of MK-containing concretes—important for the durable formulation of LC3. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Civil and Environmental Engineering)

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