About MOBICCON-PRO

The project aims to establish an innovative Territorial Circular Center (TCC) in Sofia, Bulgaria, which will serve as a first stepping stone to demonstrate the Industrial-Urban Symbiosis (I-US) concept and increase circularity in the construction sector for the whole of the EU.

The TCC will act as a “one-stop shop”, embracing business, academia, research and technology organisations (RTOs), civil society, public authorities, NGOs, sectoral associations, and citizens active in the field of CDW. The TCC will offer a virtual and physical platform for exchange of knowledge, ideas and networking on key issues related to CDW treatment, reuse, legislative environment and societal participation, among others. After the end of the project ends, it is expected that the TCC continues its work as an association for CDW management to guarantee the exploitation and replicability of the project results.

MOBICCON-PRO has a second specific objective to implement innovative digital technologies within the pre-demolition process of buildings. This includes validating and introducing smart and innovative methods for pre-demolition audits in order to support selective separation and deconstruction; quality assurance of CDW materials (i.e., assessment of materials and pollutants) and collection of valid Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data on smart demolition practices to be integrated into common Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) databases (i.e. GaBi and EcoInvent), using Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) and Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methods. The digital intensity of the construction sector is below 10%, meaning that the sector has a very slow absorption rate of digital technologies. Therefore, by introducing new techniques to identify, quantify and qualify materials and substances used in buildings (sometimes hazardous), the project will allow for better sorting and separation at source, facilitating recovery and reuse.

The MOBICCON-PRO is to establish a compact mobile pilot plant (MPP) on a project site in the suburbs of Sofia (Bulgaria) to process and recycle CDW. The MPP will consist of different equipment, prototypes and installations to carry out the crushing, screening, separation and purification to develop new secondary construction materials. The MPP will be mobile, that is, it is expected to be moved to other construction sites to process CDW or for demonstration purposes.

Three groups of new/innovative products are to be considered:

• products resulting from preparation to reuse activities such as masonry bricks, pavement blocks and curbstones and dismantled thermal panels;
• products from recycled CDW such as crushed stone, aggregate and cementitious supplements for alternative binders; and
• composite materials with recycled content such as concrete (including lightweight structural concrete and concrete composites), mortars and masonry units.

One of the major objectives of the MOBICCON-PRO project is to demonstrate the replicability of the innovative systemic circular solution developed. The idea is to showcase the redesigned process, the secondary construction materials and products from recycled CDW as well as their new applications in different environmental and construction setups.

Two GBS construction sites/buildings (an infrastructural site and a residential/non-residential building) and 2 public/condominium sites (to be agreed with the partnering municipalities) will be selected to demonstrate the new secondary raw materials and products.

In addition, once compacted and tested for a two-years period in the biggest city of Bulgaria – Sofia, the MPP will be further deployed at 2 public sites (on the territory of a selected Bulgarian municipality, e.g., Montana, Samokov, Kostinbrod or Slivnitsa and on the territory of the municipality of Pirot, Republic of Serbia), where the secondary construction materials and output products would be produced and offered to the market. The demonstration in the partnering municipalities will prove the I-US concept which will lead to a new model of public-private partnership in CDW management.

The last specific objective is to ensure the project developments and results are well communicated and disseminated among the relevant target groups/stakeholders during the project duration via conferences and other types of public events, dedicated websites, social media and publications in journals.