Contaminants Removal from Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) with Water Jigs

This study evaluates the viability of water jig for removing the impurities from CDW and the concentration of concrete aggregates from mixtures containing 10%, 20%, and 30% impurities (brick and gypsum), simulating the materials commonly found in CDW. Laboratory-scale jigging tests were conducted in single-stage jigging, and the products were characterized based on density > 2.6 g/cm3, water absorption, shape factor, and bulk density to evaluate the separation performance. It was noted that dense fractions consistently achieved high purity with less than 1% impurities and a concrete content of more than 99% and that more than 80% of dense material was recovered. These results demonstrate that water jigging is a technically viable method for producing recycled aggregates of sufficient quality for reuse in concrete while also reducing CDW disposal by more than 40% and contributing to the sector’s carbon footprint reduction. The findings confirm that even a single-stage jigging process can provide high-quality recycled aggregates, offering a simple and effective route for CDW beneficiation.