Mechanism and Investment Analysis of Recycling Gasoline Solvent with Mineral Powder for Asphalt Cleaning

Abstract

Gasoline is widely used as a powerful organic solvent to remove asphalt residuals in road engineering applications; however, it is also known as a non-renewable fuel resource. This research aims to employ mineral powder to mitigate the consumption of gasoline in asphalt binder cleaning process, and evaluate its mechanism, environmental and economic benefits. Based on X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) spectra, X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectra and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) detection, the microstructure and composition of mineral powder was investigated after adsorbing asphalt components from gasoline solution. Fourier Transform Infrared spectra (FTIR) were used to calculate the adsorption efficiency. Moreover, the assessments of environmental and economic impacts of investigated approach were evaluated quantitatively. The results indicated that the interactions between mineral powder and asphalt binder have not changed the crystal phase, and the rough interface of mineral powder could adsorb approximately 4% asphalt binder from the gasoline solution according to the detection of Zn. The comparative analysis, regarding cost-effectiveness and environmental impacts, demonstrated that once 1 kg asphalt adsorbed by mineral powder, recycling gasoline with mineral powder, could reduce costs by 80% (CNY 57.10), energy use by 97% (352.88 MJ) and equivalent CO2 emission by 93% (23.95 kg).