Most of the embodied carbon in buildings, which refers to the emissions during the construction of a building rather than when it is in use, comes from materials. At Bekaert, it is our priority to help our customers lower the embodied carbon of their projects by offering sustainable, concrete reinforcement solutions. Unlike mesh/rebar, steel fibers are an inherently sustainable technology and reduce the total amount of steel needed, without sacrificing performance or adding to the build cost. As such, we help contractors, developers, and builders to reach their sustainability targets, and are on the road to Carbon Neutrality.
Less concrete + less steel = less CO2
Steel fibers for concrete reinforcement are inherently more sustainable than traditional solutions (mesh/rebar) and reduce CO2 by up to 35% in every project. Steel fibers realize this by reinforcing concrete homogeneously, hence less reinforcement material is needed for the same performance. Further, through advanced steel fiber design optimization, we succeed in designing thinner, but equally durable concrete slabs, which require significantly less concrete, steel and water than conventional reinforcement solutions. Combining our Dramix® steel fibers with PT-strands (SigmaSlab®) leads to even greater savings.
Longer lasting concrete floors
Dramix® steel fibers enable building concrete floors with longer lifetimes. A concrete floor reinforced with steel fibers is more durable and resistant to wear and tear than traditionally reinforced floors. This is particularly important in industrial flooring given the increased warehouse automation. Automated warehouse vehicles follow identical routes, creating more localized usage patterns. Reduction in maintenance and operational costs also leads to CO2 reduction in overall building lifecycle.
EPD certified
Transparent communication of the environmental impact of our products over their lifetime is key. Hence, our Dramix® steel fiber solutions all have a cradle-to-gate, third party verified Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). These EPDs allow builders to compare sustainable building materials and make an informed decision.
Green building certifications
Green building certification systems, such as LEED or BREEAM, include various credits where Dramix® EPDs and its Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) could support reaching targets. For example, LCAs can demonstrate the CO2 savings to earn building life cycle credits. Further, Bekaert offers support in tracing raw material sourcing with transparency to contribute to responsible sourcing credits. Using steel fiber allows reducing material, construction and maintenance cost which improves the life cycle cost analysis. Steel fiber also contributes to material efficiency by reducing the amount of reinforcement material needed. Moreover, by demonstrating increase in lifespan and more durable structures steel fibers contribute to durability analysis.
End of life circularity
Steel is the second most recycled product on earth. In this context, the reinforced concrete is first crushed. Then, the most efficient method of recovering the steel is through magnetic separators. Most of that steel can be remelted and reused as steel fibers (or other applications) without any quality loss. Together with some partners, we are currently doing research on how the recuperation of steel fibers can be further optimized. The aim is to extract the maximum amount of steel, with the minimum amount of energy.
Green transportation
Greenhouse gases are not only reduced in the way your floor is designed and built. Dramix® steel fibers enable densely packed reinforcement material. This allows us to use the container space to maximum. The fuel consumption for transport per unit weight is therefore substantially lower. Less mechanical handling with lifting material, adds to the reduction of greenhouse gasses.
Talk to an expert
Let’s talk about your project and discover what Dramix® fibers can do for you.
