SCAPA and SCDOT tour Eurovia's West Columbia Asphalt Plant and QC/QA Lab

        

Kimberly Lyons, Technical Director for SCAPA, and Eric Carroll, Design Engineer with SCDOT, took a tour of Eurovia’s West Columbia Asphalt plant and the QC/QA Design Lab. Stockpiles of both aggregates and RAP were looked at, and they observed the RAP crushing operation and an explanation of how it worked was provided. They also toured the Plant Field Lab and and received an explanation of how it all fits into the testing of materials for both quality control and quality assurance testing. All of the components of the Asphalt Plant were looked at, and Eurovia staff explained how the function of each piece works together to create a quality Asphalt Paving Material. The drag conveyor, storage silos, and batchers were discussed and how they work to prevent segregation in the mixes we produced was explained. The Plant tour ended at the control room and staff explained how all of working pieces of the plant are controlled by an operator and that a printout of the mix being produced is available every 15 minutes. Last but not least, they toured the QC/QA Design Lab. Eurovia staff explained how we go from stockpile gradations to an Asphalt Mix design and discussed all of the equipment it takes to make an Asphalt Mix design. Staff answered questions and a really good relationship was established that should help Eric understand more about production rates, quality of mixes produced, and generally how it takes more than just an Asphalt Mix to make a quality product.

Submitted by: Gordon L. Wright, Senior Quality Control Manager