Asphalt Sustainability

To put a slightly finer point on last weeks blog  What's So 'Green' About Longer-Lasting Asphalt?;  this weeks blog discusses lessening of CO2 emissions when using longer lasting or thinner pavements.  In 2009, Dr Kamil Kaloush, Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering and Director of the National Center for Excellence SMART at Arizona State University developed the following formula:

Where,

T = thickness of pavement layer, meters

W = width of road, meters

Dn = density of pavement material, kg/m³

Pn = material production value, kg CO2 Eq. /kg 

Mn = material mixing value, kg CO2 Eq.  /kg 

Di = distance from material production site to application site, km

Tp = transport from production site to application site value, kg CO2 Eq.  /kg material-km

Y = road life, years

This equation quantifies the change in emitted CO2 when placing asphalt.  FORTA-FI® the revolutionary, high tensile strength, asphalt reinforcement fiber from FORTA Corporation is the perfect product to demonstrate the utility of this equation.  Tested time and again, FORTA-FI® has shown that this aramid based fiber can either increase the pavement life of a highway or airport by up to 50% (Y) or allow for the placement of the asphalt up to 35% thinner (Dn).  Both of these benefits of FORTA-FI® decrease CO2 emissions because of the lesser amount of product, manpower and energy required to build roads and airports.  Manipulating these two variables will allow us to see how much CO2 emission can be avoided by using FORTA-FI®. 

For more information, please visit: www.forta-fi.com