{"id":25194,"date":"2015-03-27T02:03:41","date_gmt":"2015-03-27T01:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rss.nova-institut.net\/public.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biofuelsdigest.com%2Fbdigest%2F2015%2F03%2F25%2Frevolutionary-road-materials%2F"},"modified":"2015-03-26T12:21:13","modified_gmt":"2015-03-26T11:21:13","slug":"revolutionary-road-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/revolutionary-road-materials\/","title":{"rendered":"Revolutionary Road (materials)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Could a bio-based $100 billion dollar savings be in the offing?<\/p>\n

\n

If you haven\u2019t noticed, US roads are a shocker. In fact, in 2013, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the US a \u201cD\u201d grade<\/a> for road conditions and capacity, and reported:<\/p>\n

\u201c32% of America\u2019s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition, costing U.S. motorists who are traveling on deficient pavement $67 billion a year, or $324 per motorist, in additional repairs and operating costs. While the nation has seen some improvements in pavement conditions due to a short surge of investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, these were not sustained, long-term investments.<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget road care.<\/h4>\n

The cost of unscrewing up the mess will only get worse, the ASCE says:<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 25 years the cost per lane mile for reconstruction can be more than three times the cost of preservation treatments over the same time period, which can lead to a longer overall life span for the infrastructure.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Change vs more of the same.<\/h4>\n

There\u2019s consensus about the problems, but not about the solutions, because most of them come down to raising tax-and-spend solutions aimed at doing \u201cmore of the same\u201d. A report from the Center for American Progress is relatively typical:<\/p>\n

Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure is a daunting, but achievable, goal. The nation needs an additional $129.2 billion per year investment to meet the current backlog of infrastructure repairs and improvements, according to a report by American Progress\u2019s Donna Cooper, \u201cMeeting the Infrastructure Imperative: An Affordable Plan to Put Americans Back to Work Rebuilding Our Nation\u2019s Infrastructure.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The justification for such massive investment is usually the multiplier effect. As CAP argues:<\/p>\n

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody\u2019s Analytics, found in 2011 that new federal spending for infrastructure improvements to highways and public schools would generate $1.44 of economic activity for each $1 spent. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office found that infrastructure investments had one of the strongest economic impacts of all the policies included in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.<\/em><\/p>\n

But what happened to\u00a0\u201cchange\u201d vs \u201cmore of the same\u201d? Are there ways to change the way we construct and maintain roads that reduces cost and improves performance?<\/p>\n

The materials, stupid.<\/h4>\n

Turns out that Arizona Chemical may have found a way.\u00a0In surveying the authorities who maintain the roads beneath our feet, the company\u2019s roads and construction team found a persistent yearning for transformative materials.\u00a0\u201cThey spoke of reducing consumption of virgin material, of an ability to reuse materials sitting in piles or industrial sites, and a real need to reduce cracking,\u201d Arizona Chemical\u2019s Raquel Silverberg told The Digest<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"sylva-slider1\"<\/p>\n

True enough, there are millions of tons of old pavement, old roads \u2014 can they be recycled? Yes, they can \u2014 the material is called reclaimed asphalt pavement, or RAP. Using RAP in road construction has significant benefits for agencies, contractors and taxpayers in cost containment.<\/p>\n

\"samples\"<\/p>\n

But using recycled material has its drawbacks. The higher the percentage of RAP blended with virgin mix results in lower performing roads. Faster degradation. More rutting, more cracking, more water seepage. Your basic nightmare. For that reason, typical RAP percentages run between 20%-30%.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put our best scientists onto it,\u201d said Silverberg. \u201cThe needs became compelling, but we had to go back to beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding a solution in pine trees.<\/h4>\n

The result is an additive to RAP \u2014 and the additive itself is bio-based and renewable, that is enabling percentages of 50% or more with performance equal to pavement containing 100% virgin mix.\u00a0Arizona Chemical calls it Sylvaroad RP1000 Performance Additive. It\u2019s made from Crude Tall Oil (CTO) derived from pine trees, and it\u2019s non-hazardous.<\/p>\n

\"Arizona-Chemical\"In a ton of asphalt mix,\u201d Silverberg told The Digest, \u201cthere\u2019s 95% aggregate and rest is bitumen. CTO is a building block for us, and it is very much like \u201cyoung bitumen\u201d, it has many of the same chemical components vs petroleum distillate. What we\u2019ve done is refine it and reacted it and we created a specialized molecule.\u201d<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need much. \u201cIn every ton, there\u2019s less than a half percent of additive required. You can\u00a0pave 2 lane miles with one ton of additive,\u201d SIlverberg said.<\/p>\n

How much can municipalities and road authorities save?<\/h4>\n

According to AsphaltRecycling.com, \u201cContractors and municipalities can recycle their RAP materials for approximately $18.00 \/ton using a PT-PRO Series Recycler.\u00a0 If hot mix purchased at the asphalt plant cost $78.00\/ton, then there is an effective savings of $60.00\/ton.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Road-building\"How does that translate to road building? According to The Scruggs Company, they use roughly 1500 tons of asphalt to lay a two-inch thick layer for a 24 foot-wide road, for one mile. So, moving from say 25% to 70% recycled content, the savings could in the range of $40,000 per mile for a two-lane road \u2014 less the cost of the additive.<\/p>\n

With 4 million miles of roadway in the US \u2014 it\u2019s not hard to rack up $100 billion in savings, based on the stats\u00a0that Scruggs and AsphaltRecycling.com cite.<\/p>\n

Back to Arizona Chemical. The company did extensive trialing and has now transitioned Sylvaroad into a a commercially sold system. Lab tests and trials have shown mixes with Sylvaroad and RAP content of up to 75% have met rigid rutting, cracking and water resistance specifications, and trials have been done in the EU, Asia and the US east coast, with trials done above 70% RAP content in the northern EU and with one customer trialing at 80%.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get them to 50% it makes a big financial impact,\u201d says Silverberg. \u201cWe have decades in the company of using biorenewable materials, and bottom line, first it must perform, then the green aspect completes the value proposition and makes it stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about concrete roads?<\/h4>\n

The alternative material is concrete, according to Public Works magazine. \u201cUntil 2008,\u201d they noted, \u201casphalt captured roughly 94% of all pavements in the U.S. market. During this time, asphalt enjoyed a lower initial bid and a life-cycle paving cost advantage over concrete, according to a Portland Cement Association (PCA) analysis. Between 2003 and 2012, concrete prices rose 37% while asphalt soared 200% \u2014 highlighting that another inhibitor to road construction has been the cost volatility associated with bitumen.<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line<\/h4>\n

So there you have it. A daunting infrastructure challenge. A recycling option that works economically, but only with low percentages. A bio-based chemical to the rescue, demonstrating that the chenges that are coming are not only in the vehicles and the fuels, but in the roads they drive on.<\/p>\n

More about Sylvaroad via sylvaroad.com.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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