EXPERT ADVICE
for KM International, North Branch, Mich.
described several methods:
• Asphalt recycling by means of a mobile
asphalt recycler. Millings and asphalt chunks
are loaded into a machine, then mixed, tumbled,
dried out, new asphalt cement is added
and the end result is recycler asphalt.
• Infrared recycling which occurs as an inplace
designated repair area using an infrared
asphalt recycler to scarify, lute, and compact.
• Hot In-Place Recycling is achieved by a
large machine scarifying an entire road lane
and then another machine rejuvenating and
then compacting the material back into
place.
• Asphalt Plants have also started to use
Recycled Asphalt Product (RAP) as part of
their production process.
As an option, Soft Heat Mfg., based in
Plains City, Ohio, offers a portable asphalt
reclaiming unit that heats the existing
asphalt already in place and allows the contractor
to rework it and add more asphalt if
there is a void to fill.
“We refer to the reclaiming of asphalt as
returning it to a usable and workable state,”
said Dave Price, president and developer
with Soft Heat Mfg. “The idea is that
every contractor can use bunked up asphalt
product instead of hauling leftover new
product to a dump. The reality is that cold
and unused new product is readily available
as leftovers all the time and can be reclaimed
at 200 pounds at a time, in less than seven
minutes. One can reclaim old asphalt as
well, if it’s in chunks that are shoe-box size
or smaller.”
Price continued: “When you consider
that left over asphalt mix gets dumped every
day, and at a cost to do so, that with proper
equipment, it can be reclaimed at great
profit. There is no need for rejuvenators, no
mixing required, and the weather season or
temperature does not matter. This is an ideal
product for patchwork and repairs as well
as to fill and level damaged surfaces. If you
think about it, this is recycling at the front
line and at its best!”
There are various types of equipment that
can be used to recycle asphalt.
“There are asphalt hot boxes and recyclers
that can be equipped to reclaim virgin
uncompressed asphalt or recycle RAP or
asphalt millings,” stated Ric Simon, executive
vice president, Falcon Asphalt Repair
Equipment, Freeland, Mich. “For example,
our trailer-mounted, slip-ins and hooklifts
can be equipped with dual burners
to enhance the reclaiming and recycling
of asphalt in an overnight process. Once
recycling is completed in the machine, it can
be transported to the repair location in the
same vessel it was recycled in. You load the
materials into the Falcon Hot Box & Recycler,
heat it overnight, transport the machine
with hot recycled asphalt to the repair areas
and fill the potholes.”
Simon added: “From a ‘green initiative’
and care for the environment standpoint,
the ability to use RAP versus new hot mix is
certainly a benefit.”
Recycling requires less energy than producing
new.
Most roads are made from concrete or
asphalt. Mining the raw materials for either
product requires massive amounts of energy
and disrupts the environment from which
they are extracted.
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