Kirchdorf company develops soundproof walls made of recycled concrete for ÖBB

On a 100-meter-long section of the western line near Hörsching, the ÖBB is currently testing noise barriers that contain 30 percent recycled concrete. Almost a third of the concrete base layer is made of recycled aggregate. Old concrete could thus be reused and reused. This would improve the environmental impact of concrete, because the production of cement in particular generates a lot of CO2.

“A functioning circular economy must be the future. I am very pleased that we are making a contribution to the sustainable and resource-saving use of recycled concrete,” says Tanja Hofer, project manager at ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG.

The walls are manufactured by MABA Fertigteilindustrie GmbH, which belongs to Kirchdorfer Concrete Solutions. The production and development costs were borne by MABA. The monitoring, which is scheduled to last two years, is being supervised by the Vienna University of Technology and the concrete laboratory Smart Minerals GmbH.

“We have already made all the preparations in various research collaborations, including with Smart Minerals, and in collaboration with our own raw materials division, to use concrete with a recycled content of 30 percent,” says MABA co-managing director Franz Buschmüller. The challenge is to guarantee the corresponding quality requirements placed on the respective applications with the aggregates obtained from old concrete. The market for this also needs to be established gradually. The industry is required to adapt the framework conditions with appropriate norms and quality standards.

Whether recycled concrete can also be used in other areas will only become clear after the test phase has ended.