International Journal of Pavement Engineering

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Life cycle assessment of hot mix asphalt with recycled

concrete aggregates for road pavements construction

Daniela L. Vega A., Joao Santos & Gilberto Martinez-Arguelles

To cite this article: Daniela L. Vega A., Joao Santos & Gilberto Martinez-Arguelles (2022)
Life cycle assessment of hot mix asphalt with recycled concrete aggregates for road
pavements construction, International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 23:4, 923-936, DOI:
10.1080/10298436.2020.1778694

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING
2022, VOL. 23, NO. 4, 923–936
https://doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2020.1778694

Life cycle assessment of hot mix asphalt with recycled concrete aggregates for road
pavements construction
Daniela L. Vega A.a,b, Joao Santos c
and Gilberto Martinez-Arguellesa
a
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia; bDepartment of Civil Engineering, Universidad de la
Costa, Barranquilla, Colombia; cDepartment of Construction Management and Engineering (CME), University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

In this study a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted according to a ‘cradle-to-laid’ Received 2 February 2020
approach to evaluate the potential environmental impacts related to the use of recycled concrete Accepted 1 June 2020
aggregates (RCAs) as a partial replacement of coarse natural aggregates in the production of Hot Mix
KEYWORDS
Asphalt (HMA). Specifically, three percentages of RCA replacements were analyzed: 15, 30 and 45%. Life cycle assessment (LCA);
Primary data collected mainly through surveys performed in Colombian contractors from the region of hot mix asphalt (HMA);
Barranquila were used to model the foreground system. The SimaPro 8.4.0 software was used for recycled concrete aggregate
modelling the processes analyzed in the case study and all the life cycle inputs and outputs related to (RCA); sustainable pavement
the functional unit were characterised during life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase into potential construction and
impacts according to the TRACI v.2.1 impact assessment methodology. The results of the case study management
showed that the mixtures incorporating 15 and 30% of RCA can be considered as eco-friendly
alternatives to the conventional mixture (i.e. no RCA content), as both allow reductions in all impact
categories scores. On the contrary, the mixture that contains 45% of RCA denoted a lower
environmental performance than that of the conventional mixture.

Introduction
this sector has increased considerably. In particular, the pave-
The construction industry in Colombia has achieved a signifi- ment industry and the scientific community have been forced
cant growth in recent years. According to the National Admin- to improve the production processes of asphalt mixtures
istrative Department of Statistics (DANE), in 2016 the through the development of the so-called sustainable technol-
aforementioned sector grew 3.3% in Gross Domestic Product ogies and solutions (Santos et al. 2018). One example of such
(GDP) comparatively to 2015 (National Administrative solutions is the incorporation of recycled materials in asphalt
Department of Statistics DANE 2012). Furthermore, in the mixtures, such as, for instance, recycled rubber, recycled
last 8 years more than 1.5 million houses and 2,700 km of asphalt pavement (RAP), steel slag, recycled concrete aggregate
new roads were built and about 40,000 km of existing roads (RCA), among others (Bonicelli et al. 2017, Saberi et al. 2017,
were rehabilitated (Martinez-Arguelles, Acosta, et al. 2019b). Kim et al. 2018, Bressit et al. 2019, Castro et al. 2019, Li et al.
Despite the social benefits obtained through the development 2019, Martinez-Arguelles, Dugarte, et al. 2019a, Landi et al.
of such projects, they are often associated with adverse impacts 2020, Praticò et al. 2020).
on the environment that cannot be disregarded. Among these RCA, in particular, has been studied as a replacement in
impacts, the depletion and deterioration of land, the consump- different percentages of natural aggregates (NA) in asphalt
tion of energy, the generation of solid waste, the emission of mixtures (Gallego and Toledano 2010). It is produced by
dust and gases, noise pollution and the consumption of non- crushing old concrete from sidewalks, pavements, curbing
renewable natural resources deserve particular attention (Lu and building slabs into smaller pieces (Marinković et al.
and Yuan 2011). For instance, in 2016 the transport sector 2010, Vega Araujo et al. 2019). These residues are part of
was responsible for the second-largest amount of greenhouse the composition of construction and demolition waste
gas (GHG) emissions (EIA 2017), among which 74% were (CDW), and given their physical and mechanical character-
attributed to road transport (Marcilio et al. 2018). Given that istics, have shown a relatively good performance that enable
the number and extension of roads are likely to continue to them to be considered as a potential replacement of NA in
grow considerably (Laurance et al. 2014), their negative hot mix asphalt (HMA) (Paranavithana and Mohajerani
impacts are expected to follow the same trend if no effective 2006, Mills-Beale and You 2010, Zulkati et al. 2013). Like-
actions are taken. wise, it has been observed that RCA can have relevant pre-
Due to the increasing concerns over the recent environ- ponderance in the mechanical and volumetric properties of
mental issues related to transportation activities, the interest HMA (Zhang et al. 2016). Specifically, satisfactory results
to develop and evaluate eco-friendly alternative solutions for have been reported for moisture damage resistance when

CONTACT Joao Santos [email protected]

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
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924 D. L. VEGA A. ET AL.

the replacement percentages are lower than 75% of the total Goal and scope definition
mass of aggregates (Mills-Beale and You 2010). In term of
Goal
stiffness, contrasting results have been found. Some research
The main goal of this study is to estimate the potential environ-
studies have found that the addition of RCA decreases the
mental impacts related to the production of HMA with differ-
stiffness of the mixtures when the replacement is made in
ent RCA contents, namely 15, 30 and 45% by weight of coarse
the coarse fraction of NA (Cupo-Pagano et al. 1994, Albayati
aggregates. The results are compared with those arising from
et al. 2018). However, when the fine fraction of NA is
the use of conventional HMA (i.e. HMA without RCA), and
replaced by fine RCA, no influence on stiffness has been
are intended to be used by highway agencies and pavement
reported (Arabani and Azarhoosh 2012, Pasandín and
practitioners striving for delivering more sustainable road
Pérez 2015). Therefore, it can be said that overall the percen-
pavement infrastructures.
tage of replacement and the properties of the RCA influence
the behaviour of the mixtures (Pasandín and Pérez 2015).
Nevertheless, the mechanical and volumetric properties of System description and boundaries
the mixtures incorporating RCA are only two aspects to be con- The LCA analysis was conducted according to a ‘cradle-to-laid’
sidered when assessing the feasibility of their application in real approach. Figure 1 presents the system boundaries and main
practices. Their environmental sustainability implications, due processes considered in the study. In particular, the analysis
to the reasons mentioned previously, cannot also be neglected. includes four main pavement life cycle phases: (i) materials
For the purpose of ascertaining the extent to which the use of production and transportation to the asphalt mixing plant;
alternative materials in road pavement construction is advan- (ii) materials processing and mixtures production at the asphalt
tageous from the environmental perspective, the Life Cycle mixing plant; (iii) mixtures transportation to the construction
Assessment (LCA) methodology can be used. LCA is a sys- site; and (iv) pavement construction. Furthermore, the bound-
tematic approach that allows the evaluation of the potential aries for the pavement structure were limited to the binder
environmental impacts generated by a product, process or sys- course (BC).
tem throughout its life cycle (ISO 2006). According to the ISO Finally, a ‘cut-off’ allocation approach was considered for
14040 standards, it consists of four main phases: (i) goal and dealing with the RCA. Thus, only the impacts associated with
scope definition, (ii) life cycle inventory analysis (LCI), (iii) the processing of RCA to render it suitable aggregate for asphalt
life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) and (iv) interpretation. mixtures applications were attributed to the system receiving
Over the last years, LCA has received increasing attention as the recycled materials (Schrijvers et al. 2016, Santos et al.
a methodology to evaluate the environmental sustainability of 2018). That means that the environmental burdens related to
road pavements (Santero et al. 2011a, 2011b, Santos et al. the pavement demolition and the transportation of the demoli-
2015a, 2015b, Azarijafari et al. 2016, Inyim et al. 2016, Bala- tion materials to the recycling facility were not included in the
guera et al. 2018, Santos et al. 2018, Jiang and Wu 2019). As system boundaries of the present case study.
far as its application to RCA is concerned, Table 1 presents
an overview of the main characteristics of the recent studies Functional unit
on the topic. In general, they concluded that the potential In this study the functional unit was defined as the provision of
environmental impacts of RCA are closely related to the haul- the BC of a typical Colombian highway section with 1 km in
ing distances (Wang and Gangaram 2014, Zhang et al. 2019). length and 1 lane 3.5 m wide. The pavement structures were
Furthermore, under certain conditions, the use of NA can designed according to the conventional characteristics of
even be considered as preferable from the environmental per- traffic and subgrade support in Barranquilla, Colombia. Specifi-
spective (Parajuli et al. 2011). Notwithstanding the existence cally, they were designed for a traffic value of 5×106 Equivalent
of the research efforts described in Table 1, the effects of mix- Single Axle Load (ESAL) of 80kN, a CBR of 7.5% and a service
tures design in the LCA results of RCA are scarce (Jiménez et al. life of 10 years. The geometric characteristics of a pavement
2015, Zhang et al. 2019). structure designed with a conventional HMA (i.e. 0% RCA con-
Within this context, the research study presented in this tent) in the BC are illustrated in Figure 2. The definition pre-
paper aims to evaluate by means of LCA the potential environ- sented above is intended to follow as much as possible the
mental impacts of using RCA as a partial replacement of coarse recommendations presented by the Pavement LCA Framework
NA in the production of HMA based on laboratory tests and (Harvey et al. 2016). According to this reference the functional
mixture design results. unit for pavements should include: (i) specifications related
physical dimensions (e.g. length, width, and number of
lanes); (ii) indicators of the performance of the pavement
Methodology
(e.g. design life) and; (iii) criteria for performance (e.g. safety,
The LCA analysis was performed taking into account the four- ride quality, traffic levels, load spectrum, speed characteristics,
step methodology defined by the ISO 14040 guidelines (ISO climatic conditions and engineering, etc.).
14040 2006) as well as the Federal Highway Administration’s In order to ascertain the potential environmental advantages
(FHWA’s) Pavement LCA Framework (Harvey et al. 2016). It related to the use of HMA with RCA content in BC, the refer-
includes the goal and scope definition, the LCI, the LCIA and ence pavement structure (Figure 2) was compared with three
the interpretation. Further details on the methods, model devel- structures with similar geometry, but in which the BC was alter-
opment, and calculations conducted in this research study are natively made of HMA with three RCA contents. Those
provided in the next subsections. alternatives represent structures with equivalent structural
Table 1. Overview of the main characteristics of the research studies involving the LCA of RCA.
Impact
assessment
Study Location Goal Functional unit System boundaries Data sources methodology Software Main results
Hossain et al. China Compare the environmental One ton of Cradle-to-site: Databases, i.e. CLP, IMPACT 2002+ SimaPro Compared to coarse NA, coarse recycled
(2016) consequences of recycled and aggregates, i.e. materials CLCD and ELCD aggregates produced from CDW reduce by
natural aggregates production fine/coarse natural extraction; 65% the GHGs emissions and by 58% the
or fine/coarse on-site consumption of non-renewable energy.
recycled aggregate transportation and Significant reductions in health, resource,
handling; climate change and ecosystem damage
crushing and scores can be obtained by producing recycled
sieving; aggregates from both waste materials,
transportation to comparatively to those associated
construction site with producing and importing aggregates
from virgin sources
Estanqueiro et al. Portugal Compare the environmental One ton of coarse Cradle-to-site: Real data from the Eco-indicator 99, SimaPro The use of RCA in the production of concrete is
(2016) impacts of three alternatives of aggregates, natural transportation from region CML Baseline preferable to the use of NA only in terms of
provision of coarse aggregates or recycled, ready to the demolition site and land use and respiratory inorganics. However,
for concrete mixture be used in concrete (for RCA); Cumulative coarse recycled aggregates can present a
production: (i) natural production extraction/ Energy better environmental performance than that
aggregates; (ii) RCA produced processing; non- Demand of NA if fine recycled aggregates are also
in a fixed plant; and (iii) RCA useful inert used in concrete production instead of being
produced in a mobile plant deposition (for sent to a landfill
RCA);
transportation to
concrete plant;
transportation to
construction site
Rosado et al. (2017) Brazil Perform a comparative LCA One ton of Cradle-to-site: Real data from the IMPACT 2002+ SimaPro MixRA is the best option for all impact
study on the environmental aggregates, i.e. NA transportation; region; databases, i.e. categories analysed (with the exception of
impacts related to the or MixRA basalt blasting; Ecoinvent v.3 and the ‘non-carcinogens’) only if the distance
production of NA and MixRA truck loading and USLCI from the production site to the consumer site

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING

(combination of NA and RCA) handling; is up to 20 tkm longer than the distance from
crushing and the NA production site to the consumer site
sieving;
sorting, crushing
and sieving (for
RCA);
transportation to
construction site
Braga et al. (2017) Portugal Compare the life cycle One m3 of ready Cradle-to-gate: Literature and CML baseline SimaPro The use of RCA can significantly reduce the
environmental and economic concrete mixture production/ databases, i.e. method and environmental impacts and costs; the
impacts of concrete mixtures with natural or extraction of raw Ecoinvent v.3 and Cumulative concrete mixes with the best mechanical
with coarse natural and RCAs recycled aggregates materials; ELCD Energy performance were those that used RCA with
transportation to Demand better characteristics (low water absorption
concrete plant; and porosity, higher density and specific
production at the mass); usually, that corresponds to lower
plant environmental impacts and costs
Italy Eco-indicator 99 SimaPro

(Continued )

925
 926
D. L. VEGA A. ET AL.
Table 1. Continued.
Impact
assessment
Study Location Goal Functional unit System boundaries Data sources methodology Software Main results
Colangelo et al. Compare the life cycle One m3 of ready Cradle-to-grave: Literature, databases, Mixtures that generate lower environmental
(2018) environmental impacts concrete mixture materials extraction real data from the impacts are those in which CDW and CKD are
associated with the production and processing; region and data used
of three types of different mixtures provided by ATECAP
concrete mixtures containing production;
CDW, marble sludge and CKD transportation to
the construction
site and placement;
transportation of
waste at the end-
of-life
Martinez- Colombia Compare the environmental One ton of Cradle-to-gate: Real data fromthe IMPACT 2002+ SimaPro For the NA-RCA combination, the
Arguelles, Acosta impacts arising from the aggregates, i.e. NA extraction; region and transportation distance of the limestone to
et al. (2019b) production of coarse NA and and NA-RCA crusher loading (for databases, i.e. the plant represents the most critical input
the combination of coarse NA RCA); Ecoinvent v.3 parameter in the LCA; transportation
with RCA (NA-RCA) truck loading; distances of the raw materials should not
crushing and exceed 200 km
sieving;
transportation to
the storage site
Shi et al. (2019) United Compare the economic, social Pavement section Cradle-to-grave: RSMeans database; TRACI EIO-LCA The use of RCA in PCC originates environmental
States and environmental impacts of 12.8-km long and materials Oklahoma DOT AADT model benefits in materials production and
RCA-based portland cement 14.4-m wide (two production; Traffic Counts developed construction phases but contributes to higher
concrete (PCC) pavements lanes in each construction; database by CMU negative environmental impacts during the
with those of a plain PCC direction; each lane use; use phase. Specifically, RCA-PCC was found to
pavement is 3.6 m wide) with maintenance; be more environmentally friendly than the
the same PCC layer end of life plain pavement in the impact categories
thickness (25 cm) ecotoxicity, human health cancer and human
health non-cancer
Acronyms: AADT – Annual average daily traffic; ATECAP – Italian Technical Economic Association for Ready-Mix Concrete; CDW – construction and demolition waste; CKD – cement kiln dust; CLCD – Chinese life cycle database; CLP –
Chinese Light and Power; GHGs – greenhouse gases; CMU – Carnegie Mellon University; EIO-LCA – economic input-output life cycle assessment; ELCD – European life cycle database; MixRA – combination of NA and RCA; NA –
natural aggregates; PCC – Portland cement concrete; RCA – recycled concrete aggregate; USLCI – United States life cycle inventory.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING 927

Figure 1. System boundaries considered in the case study. Acronyms: NA – natural aggregate; RCA – recycled concrete aggregate; HMA – hot mix asphalt.

capacity, where the only design parameter that changed was the mixtures performance, resilient modulus tests were performed
thickness of the asphalt BC. Therefore, the mixture according to the EN 12697–26 (C). The results presented in
implemented in the surface course (SC) corresponds to a con- Table 2 correspond to the tests carried out at 40°C and 4 Hz.
ventional mixture and the granular layers (i.e. GB – granular They show that mixtures containing RCA replacements of 15
base and SGB – sub granular base) correspond to those com- and 30% present the highest resilient modulus, whereas the
monly used in the region of Barranquilla for asphalt pavements mixture containing a replacement equal to 45% exhibits the
and satisfy the Colombian standards for road materials lowest value amongst all mixtures (including the control mix-
(INVIAS 2014a). Furthermore, tests carried out in the labora- ture). Some authors have explained such behaviour due to
tory were performed with the purpose of determining the pro- the influence of the fine fraction existing in the adhered mortar
portion of the mixture components and their performance. of RCA. In particular, it influences the volumetric properties of
Table 2 presents the composition and characteristics of the the mixture by increasing the asphalt binder absorption and the
mixtures analysed in the case study. The key ‘XY’ was adopted optimum asphalt binder content (Pasandín and Pérez 2014).
to identify the several mixtures. According to this key, ‘X’ Beyond a given RCA content the mixtures performance
stands for the type of mixture (i.e. HMA) and ‘Y’ represents decreases due to an extensive increase in the weak bond
the percentage of RCA (i.e. 0, 15, 30 or 45%). In addition, all between the RCA and the asphalt binder (Zhang et al. 2016).
mixtures contain 50% of coarse aggregates and 50% of fine However, it should be mentioned that such RCA behaviour
aggregates and the RCA replacements were made in the frac- has been identified when the coarse fraction of the NA is
tion corresponding to the coarse aggregates. The mixtures replaced by RCA.
were designed according to Marshall design specifications Finally, the Pitra Pave 1.0.0 tool (Universidad De Costa Rica
(INVIAS 2013) and all samples satisfied the Colombian stan- 2015) was adopted to design the pavement structure of all
dards for road materials (INVIAS 2014b). Regarding the alternatives taking into account the characteristics and

Table 2. Composition and characteristics of the mixtures.

Mixture
Item HMA0 HMA15 HMA30 HMA45
Natural Aggregate
Quantitya (%) 95.6 88.3 80.9 73.5
Absorption (%) 3
Recycled Concrete Aggregate
Quantityb (%) - 15 30 45
Asphalt
a
Quantity (%) 4.4 4.5 4.8 5.2
Properties
Density (kg/m3) 2366 2310 2305 2289
Air voids (%) 4.3 4.8 4.6 4.8
Voids filled with asphalt (%) 66.6 66.5 67.2 66.0
Voids in the mineral aggregate (%) 12.7 14.2 13.9 14.2
Stability (kN) 17.2 14.8 16.7 20.1
Flows (mm) 2.9 2.7 3.0 3.4
Figure 2. Geometric characteristics of a pavement structure designed with a con-
ventional HMA. Acronyms: SC – Surface Course; BC – Binder Course; GB – Granular Resilient modulus (MPa) 1531 2077 2066 1223
a
Base; SGB – Sub Granular Base. Percentage of total mixture weight; b Percentage of coarse aggregates.
928 D. L. VEGA A. ET AL.

mechanical performance of the several mixtures and according 2019b). In the case of the bitumen production, it was modelled
to the standard practice in Colombia. In this way, maximum according to ‘bitumen, at refinery/kg/US’ process existing in the
critical stresses and strains were calculated at different points USLCI database. Finally, for modelling the process referring to
of the pavement structure for assessing rutting and cracking the load of NA to the dump truck, it was taken into account the
performance. Those critical values were posteriorly compared information obtained from surveys.
with the corresponding admissible thresholds to make sure
that rutting and cracking requirements were satisfied. Table 3
shows the input data for the pavement designs of each type
of mixture. The results of the pavement designs are presented Materials transportation to the mixing plant sub-phase
in Table 4. This sub-phase accounts for the impacts related to the
materials transportation to the mixing plant. The LCI data
required in this sub-phase were obtained from surveys and con-
Data source sisted of the real transportation distances for the case study
In this study, primary data were collected from surveys and lab- (Figure 1).
oratory tests. Specifically, four different asphalt mixing plants
were examined, and their relevant data collected. Those data
were combined with information related to asphalt mixtures
design, aggregate properties and mechanical performance of Materials processing and mixtures production at the
the asphalt mixtures obtained from specific tests performed mixing plant phase
in the laboratory. Furthermore, existing research studies (i.e. This phase refers to the modelling of the manufacturing pro-
Thenoux et al. 2007) and databases (i.e. Ecoinvent v.3 and cesses required to transform the raw materials into an asphalt
USLCI) were used to complement the data sources above mixture. It includes the burdens related to: (i) NA processing,
mentioned. (ii) RCA processing, (iii) hauling movement of the aggregates
(natural and recycled) from the stockpiles to the feed bins,
and (iv) mixture production.
Life cycle inventory (LCI)
In this LCA phase, all data used for the analysis were defined in
such a way that the primary and secondary data of each evalu- Materials processing sub-phase
ated process and their corresponding sources are specified (ISO Within this sub-phase is included the calculation of the poten-
14040 2006, Santos et al. 2018). Table 5 presents the sources tial environmental impacts associated with the aggregates man-
and values of the data per pavement life cycle phase and ufacturing processes and their hauling movements. Those LCI
main processes. data were taken from a previous and broader research effort
that also includes the research study presented in this paper
Materials production and transportation to the mixing (Martinez-Arguelles, Acosta, et al. 2019b). Therefore, it can
plant phase be affirmed that the inventory data taken from that previous
This pavement LCA phase accounts for the environmental research study are primary data for the present study.
impacts related to the production of the raw materials as well
as their transportation to the mixing plant. It covers all the pro-
cesses required to extract the raw materials and ends up at the
mixing plant. Specifically, it considers the following processes: Mixtures production sub-phase
(i) NA extraction, (ii) loading the dump truck with NA, (iii) This sub-phase aims to estimate the potential environmental
bitumen production, and (iv) transportation of raw materials impacts arisen from the production of the different types of
to the mixing plant. mixtures assessed in this case study. A thermodynamic
relationship (Equation 1) was used for the calculation of the
Thermal Energy (TE) provided by the combustion of Heavy
Materials production sub-phase
Fuel Oil (HFO) and required to produce each type of mixture.
As previously mentioned, each type of mixture contains 50% of
This input was determined according to the energy balance
coarse aggregate and 50% of fine aggregate. Therefore, the NA
proposed by Santos et al. (2018), which considers the values
required for the case study were modelled as gravel and sand.
The LCI data related to their extraction were obtained from a
previous LCA study (Martinez-Arguelles, Acosta, et al.
Table 4. Results of the pavement design for each type of mixture.
Thickness (cm)
Asphalt layers Granular layers
Table 3. Pavement design input data for each type of mixture.
Type of mixture SC BC GB SGB Total
Subgrade Traffic Modulus (MPa)
HMA0 4.0 6.0 15.0 22.0 47.0
Type of mixture Mr (MPa) ESAL (80kN) SC BC GB SGB HMA15 4.0 5.0 15.0 22.0 46.0
HMA0 78 5,000,000 2856 1531 250 200 HMA30 4.0 5.0 15.0 22.0 46.0
HMA15 78 5,000,000 2856 2077 250 200 HMA45 4.0 7.5 15.0 22.0 48.5
HMA30 78 5,000,000 2856 2066 250 200 Acronyms: SC – Surface Course; BC – Binder Course; GB – Granular Base; SGB – Sub
HMA45 78 5,000,000 2856 1223 250 200 Granular Base.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING 929

Table 5. LCI data considered in the case study.

Data Data
Pavement LCA phase Process name Data set Data type Data item value unit
Materials production and Natural Aggregate (NA) ‘Gravel, crushed {RoW}| production | Alloc Def, U’ – Primary Fuel 0.272 MJ/Kg
transportation to the extraction Ecoinvent v.3 database
mixing plant NA load movements ‘Loader operation, large’ – USLCI Primary Fuel 26 gal/hr
Lubricant 0.3446 gr/hr
NA transportation ‘Transport, freight, lorry 16–32 metric ton, EURO4 Primary Fuel 0.025 kg/
{RoW}| transport, freight, lorry 16–32 metric ton, tkm
EURO4 | Alloc Def, U’’ – Ecoinvent v.3 database Distance 73 Km
Asphalt production ‘Bitumen, at refinery/kg/US’ – USLCI database Secondary -
Asphalt transportation ‘Transport, freight, lorry 16–32 metric ton, EURO4 Primary Fuel 0.023 kg/
{RoW}| transport, freight, lorry 16–32 metric ton, tkm
EURO4 | Alloc Def, U’ – Ecoinvent v.3 database Distance 592 Km
Materials processing and NA processing Diesel, burned in building machine {GLO}| market for | Primary Fuel 10.989 MJ/
mixtures production at the Alloc Def, U – Ecoinvent v.3 database ton
mixing plant Lubricant 0.69 gr/ton
Electricity 2.33 kWh/
ton
Water 100 kg/
ton
RCA crushing Diesel, burned in building machine {GLO}| market for | Primary Fuel 10.989 MJ/
Alloc Def, U – Ecoinvent v.3 database ton
Lubricant 0.69 gr/ton
Electricity 2.33 kWh/
ton
Water 100 kg/
ton
Mixture production (BC ‘Heat, district or industrial, other than natural gas Primary Thermal -a MJ/
layer), with and without {RoW}| heat production, heavy fuel oil, at industrial Energy ton
RCA replacements furnace 1MW | Alloc Def, U’ – Ecoinvent v.3
database
Mixture transportation to the Mixture transportation ‘Transport, freight, lorry 16–32 metric ton, EURO4 Primary Fuel 0.025 kg/
construction site {RoW}| transport, freight, lorry 16–32 metric ton, tkm
EURO4 | Alloc Def, U’ – Ecoinvent v.3 database Distance 9.4 Km
Pavement construction Finisher operation ‘Machine operation, diesel, >= 74.57 kW, high load Secondary Performance 60 m3/hr
factor {GLO}| market for | Alloc Def, U’ – Ecoinvent
v.3 database
Vibratory roller operation ‘Machine operation, diesel, >= 74.57 kW, high load Secondary Performance 65 m3/hr
factor {GLO}| market for | Alloc Def, U’ – Ecoinvent
v.3 database
Pneumatic roller operation ‘Machine operation, diesel, >= 74.57 kW, high load Secondary Performance 65 m3/hr
factor {GLO}| market for | Alloc Def, U’ – Ecoinvent
v.3 database
a
Value calculated according to the procedure described in subsection ’Mixtures production sub-phase’.
Acronyms: BC- binder course; NA- natural aggregate; RCA- recycled concrete aggregate.

presented in Table 6.
Table 6. Parameters considered to calculate thermal energy according to Equation
1.


M
TE = [ mi × Ci × (tmix − to ) + masph × Casph Parameter Value Unit
i=1 to Ambient temperature 25 °C
tmix Mixing temperature of HMA with 0, 15, 30 160 °C


M
and 45% RCA replacements
× (tmix − to ) + mi × Wi × Cwater × (100 − to ) Cagg Specific heat of natural aggregatesa 0.74 KJ/Kg/°C
i=1 Wagg Water content of natural aggregates 3 % by mass of
aggregates


M

M
WRCA Water content of RCA 3 % by mass of RCA
+ Lv × mi × Wi + mi × Wi × Cvap CRCA Specific heat of recycled concrete 0.74 KJ/Kg/°C
i=1 i=1 aggregatesa
× (tmix − 100)] × (1 + CL) (1) Cwater Specific heat of water at 15°C 4.19 KJ/Kg/°C
Lv Latent heat of vaporisation of water 2256 kJ/kg
Cvap Specific heat of water vapour 1.83 kJ/kg
Where TE is the thermal energy (MJ/ton mixture) required Casph Specific heat of asphalt 2.09 KJ/Kg/°C
CL Casing loses factorb 27 %
to produce a given asphalt mixture, M is the total number a
Value for granitic aggregates (Santos et al. 2018); bValue taken from the literature
of aggregate fractions, mi is the mass of aggregate of fraction (West et al. 2014, Santos et al. 2018).
i, Ci is the specific heat of aggregate of fraction i, CL is the
component of the TE used to heat the plant iron and The quantity of TE expressed in MJ/ton mixture and the
radiated posteriorly to the atmosphere (West et al. 2014). corresponding fuel consumption (FC) expressed in kg of
Its value was considered to be same for all mixtures and HFO/ton mixture are shown in Table 7. This table also presents
was taken from Santos et al. (2018). Likewise, the values of the value of the Reduction Factor (RF) associated with each
the other parameters were considered to remain constant type of mixture. It represents the reduction of TE between
for all the mixtures studied. each alternative mixture and the control one (i.e. HMA0).
930 D. L. VEGA A. ET AL.

Table 7. Thermal Energy (TE) consumed for producing each type of mixture and LCIA results for the conventional asphalt mixture (i.e.
respective Reduction Factor (RF).
HMA0). Figure 3 illustrates the relative environmental impacts
Mixture TE (MJ/ton mixture) FC (Kg HFO /ton mixture) RF (%)
of the alternative asphalt mixtures applied in the binder course
HMA0 241.4 5.7 - calculated in relation to those of the conventional asphalt mix-
HMA15 237.9 5.6 1.5
HMA30 234.6 5.6 2.8 ture. The rationale behind the interpretation of the results is
HMA45 231.8 5.5 4.1 such that negative relative numbers mean that the alternative
asphalt mixtures worsen the potential LCIA results in relation
to those associated with the conventional asphalt mixture. In
Mixtures transportation to the construction site phase turn, positive numbers represent an improvement of the
In this stage, the potential environmental impacts related to the environmental profile.
hauling of the mixtures from the asphalt plant to the construc- The results presented in this figure shows that the mixtures
tion site were analyzed. For that purpose, it was considered the HMA15 and HMA30 can be regarded as eco-friendly alterna-
density of the mixtures obtained from laboratory tests and the tives to the conventional mixture, as both allow reductions in
truck fuel consumption data obtained from the surveys. In all impact categories scores. The most expressive reductions
addition, the real transportation distances presented in Figure are obtained with the mixture HMA30 in the impact categories
1 were also considered. HHP, OD and Eu (approximately 24, 24 and 23%, respectively).
On the contrary, the most modest reductions are observed with
Pavement construction phase the same mixture but in the impact categories HHN, Ec and
The potential environmental burdens generated during the FFD (approximately, 13, 14 and 15%, respectively).
pavement construction activities were analysed in this phase. A result worth mentioning and that to some extent can be
The LCI data associated with the construction equipment con- perceived as unexpected, relates to the fact that the mixture
sidered in the case study (i.e. finisher, vibratory and pneumatic HMA45 was found to lead to an increase in the score of all
rollers) were taken from the literature (Thenoux et al. 2007). impact categories in relation to the conventional mixture.
This increase ranges from roughly 10% in the impact category
Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) OD to approximately 38% in the impact category HHN.
According to the conditions considered in this case study,
The LCI results were classified and characterised according to these higher scores can be explained by the combination of
the characterisation factors defined by the TRACI v.2.1. impact two facts. First, the mixture HMA45 was found to have a
assessment methodology (Bare 2012) for the following impact lower performance than that of the conventional HMA0, and
categories: (1) ozone depletion (OD), (2) global warming therefore requires a thicker BC layer (25% thicker) in order
(GW), (3) photochemical smog formation (PSF), (4) acidifica- to perform equivalently to HMA0. Second, the use of RCA
tion (Ac), (5) eutrophication (Eu), (6) human health cancerous was found to originate an increase in the optimum asphalt con-
(HHC), (7) human health noncancerous (HHN), (8) human tent. While this value was determined to be 4.4% in the mixture
health particulate (HHP), (9) ecotoxicity (Ec), and (10) fossil without RCA, it increased to 5.2% in the mixture HMA45. The
fuel depletion (FFD). Furthermore, the optional LCIA steps lower performance of the mixture HMA45 can be explained by
(i.e. normalisation, group and weighting) established by the the fact that the mortar layer that covers the NA existing in the
ISO 14040 standards were not performed (ISO 14040 2006). RCA particles is more porous and less dense than the original
Finally, the Simapro software version 8.4.0 was used for NA and has relatively weak bonding with it, which negatively
modelling the processes analyzed in this case study (PRé Con- affects the RCA properties. Regarding the increase in the opti-
sultants 2014). mum asphalt content, it is originated by the high porosity of the
mortar layer that evolves the NA (Pasandín and Pérez 2015).
Results and discussion However, the lower mechanical performance denoted by the
HMA45 was not observed in the remaining mixtures contain-
Total life cycle impact assessment results ing RCA. Actually, they registered a higher performance that
Based on the LCA methodology and assumptions described was translated in the design of thinner BC layers (approxi-
previously and the inventory data gathered, the potential mately 17%). In face of such results, it appears that the use of
environmental impacts were calculated. Table 8 presents the RCA is beneficial from the mechanical performance perspective
(and consequently from the environmental viewpoint as well)
up to a given percentage, after which the opposite effect is
Table 8. LCIA results associated with the conventional mixture (i.e. HMA0). observed.
Impact category Unit Value
Ozone depletion (OD) kg CFC11 eq 6,03E-03
Global warming (GW) kg CO2 eq 3,39E+04 Contribution analysis
Potential smog formation (PSF) kg O3 eq 4,75E+03
Acidification (Ac) kg SO2 eq 3,18E+02 Figure 4 depicts the relative contribution of the several pro-
Eutrophication (Eu) kg N eq 2,82E+01 cesses to the total environmental impact scores. From the
Human health cancerous (HHC) CTUh 1,70E-03
Human health noncancerous (HHN) CTUh 1,27E-02
analysis of this figure it emerges that the environmental
Human health particulate (HHP) kg PM2.5 eq 2,23E+01 profile of the several mixtures is mainly driven by the processes
Ecotoxicity (Ec) CTUe 2,50E+05 Bitumen Production, Mixtures Production and NA extraction,
Fossil fuel depletion (FFD) MJ surplus 2,14E+05
although the exact order varies depending on the impact
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING 931

Figure 3. Relative characterised environmental impact scores of alternative asphalt mixtures. Acronyms: OD – ozone depletion; GW – global warming; PSF – photoche-
mical smog formation; Ac – acidification; Eu – eutrophication; HHC – human health cancerous; HHN – human health noncancerous; HHP – human health particulate; Ec –
ecotoxicity; and FFD – fossil fuel depletion.

category. The Bitumen Production is particularly meaningful and Technology 2016) and the sensitivity ratio (SR) was calcu-
for the impact categories HHN, Ec and FFD, with average lated according to Equation 2 (Clavreul et al. 2012). The relative
shares of 88, 87 and 77%, respectively. The Mixture Production change in the impact assessment result is divided by the relative
is responsible for the majority of the scores in the impact cat- change in the parameter value, and the result is the ratio of the
egories OD, GW and HHP, where the relative contribution two. According to this method, the higher the ratio is, the
can be as high as 48, 34 and 29%, respectively. Finally, the greater the impact that a change in the parameter has on the
NA extraction is particularly relevant for the impact categories results.
HHP, PSF and Eu, accounting for 44, 41 and 36%, respectively, The sensitivity analysis results are illustrated in Figure 5.
of the total scores observed for those impact categories. More- From the analysis of this figure it can be concluded that the
over, the results displayed in Figure 4 also show that the contri- impact categories OD, HHP and GW are particularly affected
butions of the processes abovementioned varies in the opposite by changes in the moisture content of the RCA. On the con-
direction with the increase in the percentage of RCA incorpor- trary, the impact categories Ec, HHN and HHC are minimally
ated in the asphalt mixtures. impacted. In line with the natural expectations, the same Figure
On the contrary, the contributions of the processes Mixture also shows that the higher the RCA content of the asphalt mix-
Transportation, RCA Crushing and NA loader movement were ture, the greater the impact of the change in the value of the
found to be almost residual comparatively to those of the moisture content.
remaining processes. For instance, on average, the former pro-
DResult
cess contributes to less than 0.3% in the majority of the impact
Result0
categories, whereas the latter is associated with a share that does SR = (2)
not go beyond an average value of 3% in the impact category DParameter
PSF. Parameter0

Sensitivity analysis Scenario analysis

In order to ascertain the extent to which the results are sensitive One of the measures commonly mentioned in the literature to
to changes in the value of some parameters, a sensitivity analy- reduce the environmental impacts of the paving industry con-
sis was performed. The selection of the parameter was driven by sists of shifting to natural gas the fuel burned by the asphalt
its hypothetical relevance for a meaningful process and the mixing plants. In order to ascertain the extent to which this
uncertainties related to its value. Given those criteria, it was measure can be environmental advantageous, a scenario analy-
decided to analyse influence of the moisture content of the sis was performed. Specifically, it was assumed that the asphalt
RCA. The rationale of this choice is twofold. First, the pro- mixing plant is run by natural gas rather than by HFO.
duction of RCA involves the use of water and recent studies Figure 6 displays for each alternative asphalt mixture the
have found that the energy consumed in the production of relative variation of the LCIA results in relation to those
asphalt mixtures is significantly influenced by the moisture of the baseline scenario. They should be understood as follows:
content of the mineral mixture (Androjic et al. 2020). Second, positive relative numbers mean that the alternative scenario
the RCA particles are commonly stockpiled in unsheltered con- improves the LCIA results in relation to those associated with
ditions. The last aspect is particularly relevant in the Colombian the baseline scenario while negative numbers represent a
context given the high rainfall commonly observed in the deterioration of the environmental profile. The results of the
country. The moisture content was then changed up to a maxi- scenarios analysis show a consensual reduction of the scores
mum value of 8% (Federal Highway Administration Research in all impact categories for all asphalt mixtures considered.
932 D. L. VEGA A. ET AL.

Figure 4. Relative contribution of the main processes to the total impact scores: (a) OD, (b) GW, (c) PSF, (d) Ac, (e) Eu, (f) HHC, (g) HHN, (h) HHP, (i) Ec and (j) FFD.
Acronyms: OD – ozone depletion; GW – global warming; PSF – photochemical smog formation; Ac – acidification; Eu – eutrophication; HHC – human health cancerous;
HHN – human health noncancerous; HHP – human health particulate; Ec – ecotoxicity; and FFD – fossil fuel depletion.

With average reductions of approximately 35 and 20%, the in Figure 6 reveal that overall the most expressive reductions
most expressive savings are observed for the impact categories are registered for the asphalt mixture HMA0, whereas the
OD and HHP, respectively. In contrast, the impact categories asphalt mixture HMA45 is likely to be less affected. The
HHC and FFD appear to be less exposed to the benefits of remaining types of mixtures alternate the intermediate position
the change of the type of energy source. When comparing in the raking depending on the impact category being
the several alternative asphalt mixtures, the results depicted considered.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING 933

Figure 4 Continued

Figure 5. Sensitivity ratio results for changes in the value of the moisture content of the RCA. Acronyms: OD – ozone depletion; GW – global warming; PSF – photo-
chemical smog formation; Ac – acidification; Eu – eutrophication; HHC – human health cancerous; HHN – human health noncancerous; HHP – human health particulate;
Ec – ecotoxicity; and FFD – fossil fuel depletion.
934 D. L. VEGA A. ET AL.

are presented per cubic metre of mixture instead of ton because

the density of the mixtures is not presented in all the studies.
The analysis of the results presented in Figure 7 shows that
the outcomes of the case study presented in this paper are well
within the ranges reported in the literature. Specifically, they
are quite similar to those referring to the calculation of the car-
bon footprint of the asphalt mixtures incorporating RAP.
Therefore, it can be said that the findings of this case study
are quite plausible given the existing differences in the system
boundaries, data, assumptions and the geographical and tech-
nical contexts of all studies.

Conclusions
In order to evaluate the potential environmental effects related
to the use of RCA as a replacement of NA in HMA, a compara-
tive attributional process-based LCA study was carried out
according to a ‘cradle-to-laid’ approach. The LCA was per-
Figure 6. Relative variation of the LCIA results in relation to the baseline scenario formed taking into account, as far as possible and suitable,
in which the asphalt plant is run by HFO. Acronyms: OD – ozone depletion; GW – the ISO 14044 series and the FHWA’s Pavement LCA Frame-
global warming; PSF – photochemical smog formation; Ac – acidification; Eu –
eutrophication; HHC – human health cancerous; HHN – human health noncancer- work. In addition, to be as much geographical and contextual
ous; HHP – human health particulate; Ec – ecotoxicity; and FFD – fossil fuel representative as possible, real data collected from Colombian
depletion. contractors of the region of Barranquilla and laboratory test
results were considered as the main LCI input. Three levels
Comparison of the results with the literature of RCA replacements in the coarse fraction of NA (i.e. 15, 30
and 45%) were evaluated for the asphalt binder layer of the
In this section, the results obtained from the case study are pavement structure. Finally, the case study was modelled
benchmarked with those reported by the existing literature using the SimaPro v.8.4.0. tool and the potential environmental
on the LCA of the so-called eco-friendly asphalt mixtures tech- impacts were determined according to the TRACI v.2.1. impact
nologies (Figure 7). Moreover, only the studies that reported assessment methodology.
the LCIA results in values are considered. The comparison Based on the conditions considered in the case study, the
focuses on the Global Warming impact category and the scores following conclusions can be drawn:

Figure 7. Global warming score of the different asphalt mixtures considered in this study compared to the scores reported by the existing literature on the LCA of the so-
called eco-friendly asphalt mixtures technologies. Acronyms: HMA- hot mix asphalt; WMA- warm mix asphalt; RAP- recycled asphalt pavement.
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING 935

. the mixtures HMA15 and HMA30 can be seen as eco- Balaguera, A., et al., 2018. Life cycle assessment of road construction
friendly alternatives to the conventional mixture, as both alternative materials: a literature review. Resources, Conservation &
Recycling, 132, 37–48. doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.01.003.
allow reductions in all impact categories scores;
Bare, J., 2012. Tool for the reduction and assessment of chemical and other
. the mixture HMA45 was found to lead to an increase in the environmental impacts (TRACI), Version 2.1 – User’s Manual. EPA/
score of all impact categories in relation to the conventional 600/R-12/554, (July).
mixture; Bonicelli, A., et al., 2017. Experimental study on the use of rejuvenators
. the environmental profile of the several mixtures is mainly and plastomeric polymers for improving durability of high RAP content
asphalt mixtures. Construction and Building Materials, 155, 37–44.
driven by the processes Bitumen Production, Mixtures Pro-
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.08.013.
duction and NA extraction; Braga, A.M., Silvestre, J.D., and de Brito, J., 2017. Compared environ-
. the contributions of the processes Mixture Transportation, mental and economic impact from cradle to gate of concrete with natu-
RCA Crushing and NA loader movement to the impact cat- ral and recycled coarse aggregates. Journal of Cleaner Production, 162,
egory scores were found to be almost residual; 529–543. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.06.057.
.
Bressi, S., et al., 2019. A comparative environmental impact analysis of
the impact categories OD, HHP and GW are particularly
asphalt mixtures containing crumb rubber and reclaimed asphalt pave-
affected by changes in the value of the moisture content of ment using life cycle assessment. International Journal of Pavement
the RCA; Engineering, doi:10.1080/10298436.2019.1623404.
. the scores in all impact categories for all mixtures can be Castro, A., et al., 2019. Mechanical properties of cold recycled
reduced if the asphalt plant runs on natural gas instead of bituminous mixes with crumb rubber. IOP Conference Series:
Materials Science and Engineering, 471 (10), 102044. doi:10.1088/
HFO; 1757-899X/471/10/102044.
. the results of the case study presented in this paper are well Clavreul, Julie, Guyonnet, Dominique, and Christensen, Thomas H., 2012.
within the ranges reported in the literature on the LCA of Quantifying uncertainty in LCA-modelling of waste management sys-
the so-called eco-friendly asphalt mixtures technologies. tems. Waste Management, 32 (12), 2482–2495. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.
2012.07.008.
Colangelo, F., et al., 2018. Life cycle assessment of recycled concretes: a
case study in southern Italy. Science of the Total Environment, 615,
Acknowledgement 1506–1517. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.107.
Cupo-Pagano, M., et al., 1994. Use of building demolition waste for asphalt
The research work reported in this paper is a part of the investigation mixes: first results. Energy, environment and technological innovation.
within Research Project 745/2016: contract 037–2017, No. 1215-745- In: Proceedings of III International Congress, 203–8.
59105m supported by the Department of Science, Technology and Inno- EIA, 2017. CO2 emissions from fuel combustion 2017 highlights.
vation of Colombia – Colciencias and the Universidad del Norte. This sup- Estanqueiro, B., et al., 2016. Environmental life cycle assessment of coarse
port is gratefully acknowledged. natural and recycled aggregates for concrete. European Journal of
Environmental and Civil Engineering, doi:10.1080/19648189.2016.
1197161.
Disclosure statement Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology, 2016. User
guidelines for waste and byproduct materials in pavement construction.
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). Available from: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/
infrastructure/structures/97148/rap131.cfm.
Gallego, J. and Toledano, M., 2010. Asphalt mixtures with construction
Funding and demolition debris (January). doi:10.1680/tran.2010.163.1.1.
Harvey, J.T., et al., 2016. Pavement life cycle assessment framework (No.
This work was supported by the Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, FHWA-HIF-16-014). United States. Federal Highway Administration.
Tecnología e Innovación (COLCIENCIAS) [grant number 745/2016]. Hossain, M.U., et al., 2016. Comparative environmental evaluation of
aggregate production from recycled waste materials and virgin sources
by LCA. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 109, 67–77. doi:10.
ORCID 1016/j.resconrec.2016.02.009.
INVIAS, 2013. Secciones 700 y 800 – Materiales y mezclas asfálticas y
Joao Santos http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0337-8001 prospección de pavimentos (Primera parte).
INVIAS, 2014a. ‘CAPÍTULO 3 - AFIRMADOS, SUBBASES Y BASES’.
INVIAS, 2014b. Capítulo 4 – Pavimentos Asfálticos.
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