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A Top-Down Approach Based on the Circularity Potential to Increase the Use of Reclaimed Asphalt

Auteur(s): ORCID

ORCID
ORCID
ORCID
ORCID
Médium: article de revue
Langue(s): anglais
Publié dans: Infrastructures, , n. 5, v. 8
Page(s): 83
DOI: 10.3390/infrastructures8050083
Abstrait:

Resource depletion and climate change, amongst others, are increasingly worrying environmental challenges for which the road engineering sector is a major contributor. Globally, viable solutions that comply with the principles of circular economy (CE) are being investigated that can replace conventional asphalt mixtures in a post-fossil fuel society. The use of reclaimed asphalt (RA) is a widely used and well-established method to reduce the environmental and economic impacts of asphalt mixtures while increasing their circularity. However, RA’s market supply and demand have not yet been systematically analyzed and established. Moreover, the actual circularity potential and the opportunity of re-circulating RA in a closed-loop model have not yet been methodically defined. To address this, a three-layered framework to quantify and assess the circularity potential (Ω) of RA has been developed. To give stakeholders and legislative bodies a simple method to assess the opportunities available to them to become “more circular”, a novel equation has been formulated. This takes the form of a three-level indicator that considers: technical aspects, the effect of the RA market, and the legislative restrictions. A case study in Germany was structured and undertaken to develop and verify the proposed approach. The results indicate that the available RA is insufficient to cover the needs of asphalt mixture production; even though RA production is significantly lower than the actual need of asphalt mixtures, it is not utilized in its entirety. An impactful step forward is the alteration of the regulations to support the higher utilization of RA in asphalt mixtures, and subsequently, the increased circular opportunity and potential of RA. Thus, Circularity potential (Ω) is a composite indicator that can support stakeholders, designers, and asset managers during the process of decision-making, to follow more circular operational, design, and asphalt pavement management patterns.

Copyright: © 2023 the Authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
License:

Cette oeuvre a été publiée sous la license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY 4.0). Il est autorisé de partager et adapter l'oeuvre tant que l'auteur est crédité et la license est indiquée (avec le lien ci-dessus). Vous devez aussi indiquer si des changements on été fait vis-à-vis de l'original.

  • Informations
    sur cette fiche
  • Reference-ID
    10730849
  • Publié(e) le:
    30.05.2023
  • Modifié(e) le:
    01.06.2023
 
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