Using Sulfur Extender to Evaluate the Environmental Effects and Energy Demand of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement

Abstract

Global Greenhouse Gas emissions and energy demand will have to be diminished to reduce global temperature rise within the range as per “The climate pact”. Asphalt is becoming increasingly expensive, and high-quality aggregates are becoming more scarce, to reduce environmental pollution as well as resolve the disposal problem of road construction materials at the end of service life, recycled asphalt pavement materials have been used. Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) is composed of aggregates coated with asphalt cement that are of high quality when properly crushed and screened, which can be used in new or recycled asphalt mixes to reduce asphalt cement demand. While, the use of Sulfur as a partial substitute for bitumen in asphalt pavement not only enhanced the structural properties, such as workability, permanent deformation resistance, and low-temperature properties but also a substantial proportion of sulfur can be consumed in the road construction sector. For the analysis of energy demand and CO <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> emission of Sulpher Extended Asphalt (SEA) with five different bituminous mixtures using the RAP between 0% to 40% with 10% increment in each mixture were defined and compared. It has been found the total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and total energy demand would be reduced at an approximate rate of 1.08% and 1.35% for each 10% increment of RAP in the entire life cycle.