Completed Project: Sustainable fully recycled asphalt concrete
Asphalt concrete is a road material consisting of high quality mineral aggregates and bitumen, both being a depleting resource. Reclaimed asphalt is a valuable material that is currently often not recycled at the highest possible value – as a replacement of the virgin materials. Instead it is often used in base layers, road shoulders, unbound pavements, and stockpiled. The project “Sustainable Fully Recycled Asphalt Concrete“ develops technologies and processes for 100% recycling of asphalt concrete. 100% recycling will save resources resulting in less construction and demolition waste thus providing more sustainable road construction. The main tasks of the project are:
- Evaluate rejuvenators and methods to test them in order to ensure full recycling of asphalt binder.
- Develop performance-based mixture design methodologies for 100% recycled asphalt (see video).
- Advance 100% recycled asphalt manufacturing technologies to ensure safe and reliable production of the designed mixtures.
- Evaluate environmental effects of 100% recycling and rejuvenator use to ensure safe asphalt recycling for the people and environment.
- Determine the performance of plant-produced 100% recycled asphalt pavement in comparison to conventional asphalt
The project “Sustainable Fully Recycled Asphalt Concrete” is funded by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment grant No: UTF 489.19.14/IDM2006.2423.487.
Project timetable
The project ended in July 2018 as planned.
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| Recycling agent dose optimization |
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| 100% mixture designed in lab |
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| Mix design procedure oprtimisation |
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| Production of 100% asphalt in plant |
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| Monitoring of environmental risks |
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| Testing plant-produced asphalt |
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| Dissemination |
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Publications
- M. Muñoz, R. Haag, R. Figi, C. Schreiner, M. Zaumanis, M. C. Cavalli, L. D. Poulikakos & N. V. Heeb (2021): Environmental impact of rejuvenators in asphalt mixtures containing high reclaimed asphalt content, Road Materials and Pavement Design, DOI: 10.1080/14680629.2021.1891129
- Cavalli, MC; Mazza, E; Zaumanis, M; Poulikakos, LD. (2021) Surface nanomechanical properties of bio-modified reclaimed asphalt binder ROAD MATERIALS AND PAVEMENT DESIGN 22 (6), pp. 1407-1423. DOI: 10.1080/14680629.2019.1691042
- Zaumanis, M., Arraigada, M., Poulikakos, L.D. 100% recycled high-modulus asphalt concrete mixture design and validation using vehicle simulator (2020) Construction and Building Materials, 260, art. no. 119891, DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.119891
- Zaumanis, M., Cavalli, M.C., Poulikakos, L.D. How not to design 100% recycled asphalt mixture using performance-based tests (2020) Road Materials and Pavement Design, 21 (6), pp. 1634-1646. DOI: 10.1080/14680629.2018.1561381
- Zaumanis, M., Cavalli, M.C., Poulikakos, L.D. Effect of rejuvenator addition location in plant on mechanical and chemical properties of RAP binder (2020) International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 21 (4), pp. 507-515. DOI10.1080/10298436.2018.1492133
- Zaumanis, M, Cavalli, M C, Poulikakos, L D. (2020) How not to design 100% recycled asphalt mixture using performance-based tests. Road Materials and Pavement Design, Road Materials and Pavement Design 21(6), pp. 1634-1646
- Zaumanis, M., Arraigada, M., Wyss, S.A., Zeyer, K., Cavalli, M.C., Poulikakos, L.D. Performance-based design of 100% recycled hot-mix asphalt and validation using traffic load simulator. (2019) Journal of Cleaner Production, 237, art. no. 117679, DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.117679
- Zaumanis, M., Boesiger, L., Kunz, B., Cavalli, M.C., Poulikakos, L. Determining optimum rejuvenator addition location in asphalt production plant (2019) Construction and Building Materials, 198, pp. 368-378
- Cavalli, M. C., Zaumanis, M., & Poulikakos, L. D. (2019). Microstructural investigation of reclaimed asphalt binder with bio-based rejuvenators. In L. D. Poulikakos, A. Cannone Falchetto, M. P. Wistuba, B. Hofko, L. Porot, & H. Di Benedetto (Eds.), Rilem Bookseries: Vol. 20. RILEM 252-CMB symposium. Chemo-mechanical characterization of bituminous materials (pp. 39-43). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00476-7_7
- Cavalli, M.C., Zaumanis, M., Mazza, E., Partl, M.N., Poulikakos, L.D. Aging effect on rheology and cracking behaviour of reclaimed binder with bio-based rejuvenators (2018) Journal of Cleaner Production, 189, pp. 88-97.
- Zaumanis, M., Cavalli, M.C., Poulikakos, L.D. Effect of rejuvenator addition location in plant on mechanical and chemical properties of RAP binder (2018) International Journal of Pavement Engineering, pp. 1-9.
- Cavalli, M.C., Zaumanis, M., Mazza, E., Partl, M.N., Poulikakos, L.D. Effect of ageing on the mechanical and chemical properties of binder from RAP treated with bio-based rejuvenators (2018) Composites Part B: Engineering, 141, pp. 174-181.
- Zaumanis, M., Poulikakos, L.D., Partl, M.N. Performance-based design of asphalt mixtures and review of key parameters (2018) Materials and Design, 141, pp. 185-201.
- Boesiger, L., Zaumanis, M., Poulikakos, L., Cavalli, M.C., Fierz, R., Kunz, B. Assessment of Rejuvenator Addition in Asphalt Plants, EATA 2017, Zurich. Poster presentation
- Cavalli M. C., Zaumanis M., Partl M.N., Poulikakos L. D.: Evaluation of reclaimed asphalt binder treated with different bio-based rejuvenators. EATA 2017 Dübendorf. Poster presentation (best poster Prize)
Project partners
The project is a cooperation between academia, industry and Swiss federal office for the environment. The competences of partners complement each other ensuring cutting-edge research. Ammann is an internationally-renown asphalt plant producer and leader in commercializing 100% recycling technology. BHZ owns several state-of-the-art 100% recycling plants by Ammann and has long-standing expertise in asphalt production and recycling. EMPA provides the research know-how and owns state-of-the art equipment for asphalt research and environmental safety characterization. BAFU provides high-level overview of recycling in Switzerland and ensures expertise in environmental protection and safety.
Together the project partners form a well-rounded research team to bring the knowledge of 100% recycling to the next level.
