Trials have begun into a new asphalt technology that could wipe a third off the carbon footprint of the road building material – and speed up road works in the process.
The pilot projects, which are being conducted by leading construction companies – including
Tarmac Limited, United Asphalt and
Aggregate Industries – in partnership with the
Carbon Trust, aim to bring to market a low temperature
asphalt that would cut the energy used in the production of road-building material at the same time as wiping hundreds of thousands of tonnes of carbon off the asphalt industry’s annual footprint.
Transport is the fastest growing source of domestic
carbon emissions and
road building is a major contributing factor. The English regions alone plan to spend £42 billion on 92 major road building schemes in the next five years and asphalt will be the main material used to surface the roads.
'Cold mix' and 'warm mix' asphalt being pilotedThe new 'cold mix' and 'warm mix' asphalt uses
less energy to produce than most asphalt produced in this country – which is manufactured under heat of 170 degrees Centigrade. The cooler asphalt also dries more quickly when applied to a road surface, cutting down on road building time. With the cold mix, road works can be reduced by anything up to 12 hours, cutting congestion and disruption, and reducing health risks, says the Carbon Trust.
Trials will test heat recovery technology in manufacturing of asphaltThe trials will also test heat recovery
technology to reduce the carbon
emissions from the burner that heats and dries the aggregates: the main
energy consumer in the hot asphalt
manufacturing process.
"There are huge carbon savings to be gained from using cooler asphalt,” said Dr Mark Williamson, director of Innovations at the Carbon Trust. “We are partnering with the leaders in the UK industry to prove the benefits so that more cooler asphalt will hit our roads soon.”
The Carbon Trust estimates the cooler asphalt could cut a combined 339,000 tonnes of carbon off the asphalt industry's annual footprint by 2020 – equivalent to 39 per cent of current emissions.
The Carbon Trust is providing funding for the projects through its £15 million Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator progarmme. So far three consortia have been selected to carry out pilot projects, each taking around two years to complete.
"The Carbon Trust has already launched a carbon reduction strategy to help the aggregates industry reduce its carbon footprint by 20 per cent and shave some £45million a year off its energy bills,” said Williamson. “We are now targeting the next level of carbon savings by demonstrating innovative technologies and solutions that could cut carbon across the industry and help cut the UK's carbon footprint."
Ross Snape, managing director of United Asphalt added: "This pioneering project has the potential to fundamentally change the asphalt industry in the UK, producing sustainable low carbon products […] With this innovative project we will be able to manufacture products that could halve the carbon footprint of traditional asphalt products."
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