NAPA News

From the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) this month is this article entitled "New FHWA Survey Finds Asphalt Recycling Reaches 99 Percent; Warm Mix Usage Skyrockets."  The article with the various links is based off of a survey completed by NAPA for the Federal Highway Administration entitled Asphalt Pavement Mix Production Survey: 2009-2010.  When reading please note the warm mix definition used for this survey is for asphalt mix produced and placed between 10 – 100 degrees less than it would normally have been produced and placed.   In Texas TxDOT’s definition for warm mix is mix produced and placed between 215 – 275 degrees.

New FHWA Survey Finds Asphalt Recycling Reaches 99 Percent; Warm Mix Usage Skyrockets

Asphalt pavement is not only America’s most recycled and reused material, it now is being recycled and reused at a rate over 99 percent. Use of environmentally friendly warm-mix asphalt grew by more than 148 percent from 2009 to 2010, a trend that is expected to continue. Recycling of asphalt pavements and asphalt shingles in 2010 alone conserved 20.5 million barrels of asphalt binder.

These are some of the key findings in a new survey of asphalt pavement usage, which NAPA completed under contract to the Federal Highway Administration. The report, titled Asphalt Pavement Mix Production Survey: 2009-2010 (NAPA Information Series 138), is available as a free download. The survey examined the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), recycled asphalt shingles (RAS), and warm-mix asphalt (WMA) in 2009 and 2010. RAP, RAS, and WMA conserve raw materials; conserve energy; cut emissions from production and paving operations; and improve conditions for workers.

Some highlights from the data:

• RAP: The asphalt industry remains the country’s number one recycler. The amount of RAP used in asphalt pavements was 56.0 million tons in 2009 and 62.1 million tons in 2010.
Assuming 5 percent liquid asphalt in RAP, this represents over 3 million tons (19 million barrels) of asphalt binder conserved. About 96 percent of the contractors/ branches reported using RAP. Less than 1 percent of RAP was sent to landfills.

• RAS: Use of recycled asphalt shingles (both manufacturer’s waste and tear-offs) increased from 702,000 tons to 1.10 million tons from 2009 to 2010, a 57 percent increase.
Assuming conservative asphalt content of 20 percent for shingles, this represents 234,000 tons (1.5 million barrels) of asphalt binder conserved.

• WMA: Total tonnage of WMA is estimated at 19.2 million tons in 2009 and 47.6 million tons in 2010. This was a 148 percent increase. Plant foaming is used most often in producing WMA. Additives accounted for about 17 percent of the total WMA production in 2009 and 8 percent in 2010.

To view/download the full report Asphalt Pavement Mix Production Survey: 2009-2010, click here.

To view/download Appendix A, Survey Forms, click here.

To view/download Appendix B, State-by-State Use of RAP, RAS, WMA, and HMA, click here. Please be aware before printing that Appendix B is 148 pages long.

For the HMAT magazine article summarizing the survey, click on Asphalt Tops The Charts in Environmental Stewardship.