Assessment of Life Cycle Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction of Using Reclaimed Asphalt Concrete

摘要

This study uses the Pavement Life-cycle Assessment Tool for Environmental and Economic Effects (PaLATE) to study the benefits of energy savings and carbon emission reduction derived from using Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP). According to the findings, producing RAP mixture with 30% of reclaimed asphalt materials results in 16% of energy saving and 20% of carbon emission reduction while compared to that of producing the same amount of virgin hot mix asphalt mixture. The mitigation of energy consumption and carbon emission is mainly due to the saving on virgin asphalt binder. However, it is found from a life cycle approach, only if RAP pavement gives a service life at least 80% of that of virgin materials, using RAP becomes a feasible way to make the pavement greener.