Reverting Colored Concrete and Rinse Water to Gray

Abstract

A simple and easily useable system for reverting an uncured colored concrete material back to a gray color, by merely determining the original pigment and loading initially used to color the concrete material. The system utilizes a collection of pigment mixtures that can be selected and combined as needed to revert virtually any colored concrete back to a gray color, thus eliminating or reducing the expulsion of non-gray or colored concrete and/or dirty rinse water. Additionally, the volume of rinse water needed to clean out gray concrete is significantly less than that needed to clean out colored concrete.

1 . A method for reverting uncured colored concrete in a vessel to gray, the colored concrete comprising gray concrete and pigment, the method comprising:
 determining a pigment formulation and loading that corresponds to the pigment, the pigment formulation having an amount of red pigment, an amount of black pigment, an amount of yellow pigment, and an amount of green pigment; and   adding a reversion pigment mixture to the colored concrete in the vessel, the reversion pigment mixture selected based on at least one of:   (1) a red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment,   (2) a black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment,   (3) a yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment, and   (4) a green pigment threshold and the amount of green pigment.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein determining a pigment formulation and loading comprises accessing a database. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein determining a pigment formulation and loading comprises visually evaluating the colored concrete and estimating the pigment formulation and loading. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the reversion pigment mixture is selected based on at least two of:
 (1) the red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment, 
 (2) the black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment, 
 (3) the yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment, and 
 (4) the green pigment threshold and the amount of green pigment. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the reversion pigment mixture is selected based on:
 (1) the red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment, 
 (2) the black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment, and 
 (3) the yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 (1) the red pigment threshold is 15-25 wt-% of the pigment; 
 (2) the black pigment threshold is 15-30 wt-% of the pigment; 
 (3) the yellow pigment threshold is 20-50 wt-% of the pigment; and 
 (4) the green pigment threshold is 10-20 wt-% of the pigment. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein:
 (1) the red pigment threshold is 17-20 wt-% of the pigment; 
 (2) the black pigment threshold is 17-20 wt-% of the pigment; 
 (3) the yellow pigment threshold is 30-40 wt-% of the pigment; and 
 (4) the green pigment threshold is 12-18 wt-% of the pigment. 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the reversion pigment mixture comprises synthetic iron oxide pigment and/or organic pigment, titanium dioxide, and calcium carbonate and/or white Portland cement. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising, after adding a reversion pigment mixture the colored concrete, rinsing the vessel. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising, after rinsing the vessel, adding a new concrete batch to the vessel. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising, after adding a reversion pigment mixture to the colored concrete, adding a new concrete batch to the vessel. 
     
     
         12 . A method for reverting uncured colored concrete in a vessel to gray, the method comprising:
 determining a pigment formulation and loading of an uncured colored concrete in a vessel, the pigment formulation having an amount of red pigment, an amount of black pigment, an amount of yellow pigment, and an amount of green pigment;   adding a reversion pigment mixture to the colored concrete in the vessel, the reversion pigment mixture selected based on at least one of the amount of red pigment, the amount of black pigment, the amount of yellow pigment, and the amount of green pigment; and   after adding the reversion pigment mixture in the vessel, dumping gray rinse water from the vessel.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein adding a reversion pigment mixture comprises selecting a reversion pigment mixture based on at least one of:
 (1) a red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment, 
 (2) a black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment, 
 (3) a yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment, and 
 (4) a green pigment threshold and the amount of green pigment. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12  wherein selecting the reversion pigment mixture is based on at least two of:
 (1) the red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment, 
 (2) the black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment, 
 (3) the yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment, and 
 (4) the green pigment threshold and the amount of green pigment. 
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein selecting the reversion pigment mixture is based on:
 (1) the red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment, 
 (2) the black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment, and 
 (3) the yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment. 
 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12  wherein determining a pigment formulation and loading comprises accessing a database. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12  wherein determining a pigment formulation and loading comprises visually evaluating the colored concrete and estimating the pigment formulation and loading. 
     
     
         18 . A gray concrete formed by:
 providing an uncured colored concrete;   determining a pigment formula and loading of the uncured colored concrete from an information storage source;   choosing a reversion pigment mixture based on the pigment formula and loading; and   coloring the uncured colored concrete gray by adding the reversion pigment mixture to the uncured colored concrete.   
     
     
         19 . The product of  claim 18  wherein the pigment formula and loading of the uncured colored concrete is determined from an information storage source. 
     
     
         20 . The product of  claim 19  wherein the information storage source is a table, spreadsheet, database or computer program. 
     
     
         21 . The produce of  claim 18  wherein the pigment formula and loading of the uncured colored concrete is determined by visual evaluation. 
     
     
         22 . The product of  claim 18  wherein the reversion pigment mixture is chosen based on the pigment formula compared to a pigment threshold. 
     
     
         23 . The product of  claim 22  wherein the pigment formula comprises an amount of red pigment, an amount of black pigment and an amount of yellow pigment, and the pigment threshold comprises a red pigment threshold, a black pigment threshold and a yellow pigment threshold. 
     
     
         24 . The product of  claim 22  wherein the pigment formula comprises an amount of red pigment, an amount of black pigment, an amount of yellow pigment, and an amount of green pigment, and the pigment threshold comprises a red pigment threshold, a black pigment threshold, a yellow pigment threshold and a green pigment threshold. 
     
     
         25 . A kit for reverting colored concrete comprising concrete and a pigment, the kit comprising:
 a first reversion pigment mixture having a first weight; and   a second reversion pigment mixture having a second weight 1.5× or 2× or 3× or 4× the first weight, with the first reversion pigment mixture and the second reversion pigment mixture being the same and comprising synthetic iron oxide pigment and/or organic pigment, titanium dioxide, and calcium carbonate and/or white Portland cement.   
     
     
         26 . A system comprising:
 an information storage source containing:
 (a) pigment formulas and loadings for a plurality of colored concretes, and 
 (b) data for corresponding reversion pigment mixtures for reverting each of the colored concretes to gray; and 
   a kit comprising a first reversion pigment mixture having a first weight and a second reversion pigment mixture having a second weight 1.5× or 2× or 3× or 4× the first weight, each of the first reversion pigment mixture and the second reversion pigment mixture being the same.   
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26  wherein the first reversion pigment mixture and the second reversion pigment mixture comprise synthetic iron oxide pigment and/or organic pigment, titanium dioxide, and calcium carbonate and/or white Portland cement. 
     
     
         28 . A method for reducing concrete rinse water, the method comprising:
 determining a pigment formulation and loading in an uncured colored concrete in a vessel, the pigment formulation having an amount of red pigment, an amount of black pigment, an amount of yellow pigment, and an amount of green pigment;   adding no more than about 100 gallons of rinse water in the vessel;   after adding the rinse water in the vessel, adding a reversion pigment mixture to the colored concrete in the vessel; and   after adding the reversion pigment mixture in the vessel, dumping gray rinse water from the vessel.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28  comprising adding no more than about 50 gallons of rinse water in the vessel. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 28  further comprising, after adding the reversion pigment, mixing the uncured colored concrete, the rinse water and the reversion pigment mixture for about 5 minutes.