Carbon Emission Assessment of 3D Printed Hybrid Modular Concrete Building (2025-10)¶

The research on the use of three-dimensional printing (3DP) or additive manufacturing (AM) in the building industry has gained substantial attention among researchers and practitioners. While the use of 3D printed concrete (3DPC) in buildings presents several benefits, such as, time saving and waste reduction, the technology is still nascent and offers numerous opportunities for further investigations in terms of its long-term behavior, cost, maintenance, etc. The environmental impact of building construction, particularly CO2 emission, has gained widespread attention among academics and practitioners over the past decade. However, for 3DPC, this is an area that remains under-researched. The research presented in this paper aims at applying the cradle-to-gate life cycle analysis (LCA) method to quantify the CO2 emission of a 3DPC building. As the first step, this paper presents the work breakdown structure revealing necessary activities and materials required for the production and construction of the non-load bearing 3DPC sections of the building. It was also aimed to provide an approach for the future quantification of the CO2 emission of the 3DPC buildings.