Development of a reverse logistics model in the construction industry | |
| Author | Sinha, Sanjeev |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.TE-07-02 |
| Subject(s) | Construction industry--Mathematical models Building materials--Recycling |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Engineering in Transportation Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ; no. TE-07-02 |
| Abstract | The spurt in construction activities has led to major exploitation of natural resources resulting in resource depletion, high energy consumption, air pollution and waste generation. As a result Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste generation has increased substantially, resulting into heavy load for the landfills. Recycling is relatively a new approach for handling of C&D wastes. Recycling of C&D wastes is the process to obtain usable construction materials by processing it. The process of recycling of aggregates involves segregation, prescreening, crushing and screening and the result of the process being both fine and coarse aggregates. C&D waste recycling cannot be carried out in isolation; there is a need to establish institutions and infrastructures to facilitate it. The infrastructural facilities required for recycling is basically a logistics network. The network includes the nodal points as sources of the C&D wastes, the recycling plants, the demand points and the points of disposal of the waste materials. The modes of transportations and transportation facilities are also the integral part of the network. The dissertation proposes reverse-logistics models for product recovery of construction aggregates. Initially a deterministic model is proposed, and in order to cater for the variation in supply of construction and demolition wastes and the demand of recycled aggregates, a stochastic model is developed. As the models deal with recycling of aggregates it is considered a reverse logistics design problem. The proposed models are designed as multi¬commodity and capacitated facility location problems. They are formulated as mixed integer linear programming (MILP) with an objective of minimization of total cost. The proposed model can be used to find the optimal number and the locations of plants that should be built and the flow of material in the network in order to minimize the total cost. The process of recycling of aggregates and the logistics involved were studied through a site visit made at an aggregate recycling plant in Singapore. The deterministic model was applied to Greater London Region, UK and National Capital Region of Delhi. The stochastic model was applied to National Capital Region of Delhi. The data collection was based on questionnaire survey and personal interview. The results show that demand and supply and their locations determine the overall structure of reverse logistics network. The transportation cost is the single largest component of the total cost of the reverse logistics network. Capacity of handling and processing also influence the optimal design of the reverse logistics network. It was also found that the stochastic models are more adapted to cater for the given variations in the supply of C&D aggregates and demand of recycled aggregates. From the analyses and testing done, it can be concluded that the models developed in this research are effective in finding the real- life solutions to the problem of deciding optimal location for recycling plants for aggregates in any region |
| Year | 2008 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertation ; no. TE-07-02 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Transportation Engineering (TE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Pichai Taneerananon; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Hanaoka, Shinya ;Kunnawee Kanitpong ;Huynh Trung Luong; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2007 |