Estimation and Analysis of Energy Conservation and Emissions Reduction Effects of Warm-Mix Crumb Rubber-Modified Asphalts during Construction Period

Abstract

In order to solve the serious environmental problems caused by the rapid increase in the number of waste tires and unproper storage of waste tires, modifying the asphalt mix for roadway pavement by adding rubber crumb from recycled waste tires is one of the highly effective approach to solve the problem and can achieve the sustainable use of rubber resources. The application of warm-mix crumb rubber-modified asphalt (CRMA) overcomes some issues of the hot-mix CRMA, such as high temperature and high energy consumption. However, there is a lack of estimation methodology for the energy conservation and emission reduction during the production process of warm-mix CRMA. This study develops the estimation models for the evaluation of energy conservation and emissions reduction during different production stages of waste rubber powder, asphalt, CRMA, hot-mix CRMA, and warm-mix CRMA. A list for gas emissions during the mixing and paving process of CRMA mixtures was established through the simulated mixing measurement and paving site measurement. The results show that for each metric ton of CRMA mixture produced, warm mixing can reduce energy consumption by 18~36% and decrease gas emissions during different stages by 15~87% compared to hot mixing. The Evotherm warm-mix CRMA mixture with DAT as warm mix agent (Ev-DAT warm-mix CRMA mixture) is more energy-efficient by saving approximately 108.56 MJ of energy and reducing gas emissions during mixing and paving by at least 32% and 73%, respectively. This model can improves the technical standard of warm-mix CRMA and the energy conservation assessment.