Abstract
Given the climate change, the high levels of pollution nowadays and the depletion of lithographic resources, low carbon technologies for road reinforcement with low energy consumption are essential for a sustainable future. These technologies, including incorporation of nonconventional materials, such as oil sands or bituminous sands, in pavement construction and recycling techniques of the existing deteriorated pavements, represent significant methods which can be performed for a better conservation of resources, and therefore the environment. In terms of environmental indicators assessment, the results of recent research undertaken for road pavement reinforcement strategies are presented. The Global Warming Potential expressed as quantities of CO2e emissions for a road pavement incorporating various alternative materials, such as oil sand and reclaimed asphalt have been evaluated using a life cycle assessment (LCA) study performed with asPECT software. The results obtained from these studies are presented within this paper and specific recommendations with regards to various technologies usage are given. These are required for minimizing the environmental impact of transport infrastructure and thus advancing towards low carbon mobility. The paper aims to highlight the need for effective measures concerning road pavements maintenance and intervention works. These measures are intended to extend the pavements lifecycle and therefore to reduce the overall ecological impact associated with the reconstruction of the road pavement because this action is correlated with significant quantities of polluting emissions released into the atmosphere, enormous granular materials and energy consumption and thus, an exponential increase of the greenhouse effect. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.21.4.18486
Highlights
In the “Economic Feasibility of Oil Sand Use in Asphalt Pavements”, a comparative economic analysis of these two alternatives is performed and the conclusion drawn was “An overall favorable economic result for private industry, as well as, both local and state governments is predicted” (Gwilliam, 2010)
The aim of this paper is to emphasize the ecological benefits related with an asphalt pavement mix designed with a percentage of oil sand incorporated into the mix, which has previously been tested in a road laboratory and it has proven to fulfil the physical and mechanical characteristics of road pavements
CO2e emissions correlated with Alternative 1 for road pavement reinforcement
Summary
In the “Economic Feasibility of Oil Sand Use in Asphalt Pavements”, a comparative economic analysis of these two alternatives is performed and the conclusion drawn was “An overall favorable economic result for private industry, as well as, both local and state governments is predicted” (Gwilliam, 2010) Another benefit of bituminous sand road pavements is the reduced mixing temperature. In Romania, oil sands are located in two geographical zones, as follows: Bihor County, at Derna Tatarus - Budoi site and Prahova County, at Matita and Pacuret site These bituminous sands have an average of 10 to 20% pure bitumen in their structure and can be used for road works. The technological process of extraction is surface mining due to the fact that the oil sand deposits are at a shallow depth below the thin layer of soil
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