Project details

Details

Road construction, maintenance and renovation (in particular, asphalt pavements for primary and secondary roads) have a huge environmental impact. Road and infrastructure construction consumes large quantities of raw materials. Raw materials needed for asphalt pavements consist of mineral elements such as stones, grit and sand (aggregates), filler and bitumen.

To produce one tonne of asphalt , approximately one tonne of natural resources, mainly aggregates, is needed. The demand for natural resources in road construction is enormous, and requires the transport of natural resources from mining areas to asphalt plants and road construction sites. As a result, such production is responsible for large amounts of hydrocarbon emissions. The most important sources of these emissions are the combustion of fuels and vapours from heated bitumen. Extra hydrocarbons are emitted during the heating of reclaimed asphalt.

At present, several innovations are taking place in different areas of the road construction sector: asphalt mixtures, construction techniques and the use of reclaimed materials. With regard to asphalt materials, for example, there are innovative developments in the areas of lower-temperature asphalt, low-traffic-noise asphalt and low-maintenance asphalt. However, the innovations occur on a product level. There is as yet no integration of the different innovations in order to realise optimal environmental performance of road (re)construction.

The main objective of this project is to demonstrate a convergence of cold asphalt technologies (a type of asphalt that retains its pliable properties when the temperature drops) and road construction technologies to significantly improve environmental performance of road construction and maintenance processes.

The project will demonstrate the folowing innovative asphalt technologies and paving techniques:

• Dry decomposition of reclaimed asphalt: milling and decomposing old asphalt layers with a cleaner dry process; and
• Production of a new and greener cold asphalt mix that contains at least 80% reclaimed asphalt and can be produced and used at 80ºC.

List of achievements

Expected results: Construction of a 1 km road with over 80% of reclaimed materials. Using the cold asphalt and construction techniques developed by the project will lead to the following environmental improvements:

• An 80% reduction in hydrocarbons emissions;
• A 10% reduction in particulate matter (PM) emissions;
• A 50% reduction in NOx emissions;
• A 35% reduction in CO and CO2 emissions;
• An 80 reduction in odours;
• A 7dB reduction in rolling noise; and
• A 35% reduction in energy consumption.

More information here.

Contact

Contact person: Jan VERHOEVEN
Address: Koninklijke BAM Groep NV
Tel:
email: J.Verhoeven@baminfraconsult.nl

Status

Finished