Analysis of energy consumption in the production of hot mix asphalt (batch mix plant)

Abstract

This paper describes tests in which influencing factors that affect energy consumption in the rotary drum were monitored. The monitored influencing factors are moisture, delays in daily production, hourly production capacity, and temperature of produced hot mix asphalt (HMA). The tests include the production of 88 079 t of HMA of continuous and discontinuous gradation on a cyclic asphalt plant in the Republic of Croatia. In 2014, 182 production terms were monitored (155 observed), whereas the moisture content was tested using the same number of input mineral mixture samples. The temperature of the produced asphalt mixture was measured using approximately 67 753 samples during the entire production period. Delays in work and hourly production capacity were measured during production by recording the duration of working time and delays. The final result of this study is the creation of a regression model of the correlation between energy consumption and temperature of the asphalt mixture and the hourly capacity and moisture in the mineral aggregate.