USE OF END-OF-LIFE MATERIALS, WASTE AND ALTERNATIVE BINDERS AS USEFUL RAW MATERIALS FOR PAVEMENTS CONSTRUCTION AND REHABILITATION

INTRODUCTION

Challenges

It is estimated that 90% of the 5.2M Km of the Europe road network and 93% of the 4.1M km of US paved roads and highways are surfaced with asphalt mixes. A significant amount of resources is required not only for the construction of new pavements, but also for the preservation and renovation of the existing ones. The EU White Paper on Transport establishes as a priority the optimal use of natural resources, the support to innovations that boost cost-effectiveness, and the reduction and reuse of wastes.

The Project

In order to address this challenge, the project aims to demonstrate an innovative and integrated approach for the sustainable construction of roads considering the whole life cycle of the infrastructure. Several actions will be considered: (1) enhancing the resource and cost efficient use of alternative materials; (2) ensuring the recyclability of the roads developed with the alternative green materials; and (3) implementing a “circular economy approach” by taking advantage of the actual by-products and waste produced by the local industry.

The project focuses on two main components of the asphalt pavements. On the one side, it will look for the replacement of the virgin aggregates by recycled materials (e.g. reclaimed asphalt pavement) and by products (e.g. slags). On the other side, alternative green binders such as waste engine oils and bio-fluxing agents will be integrated in the mixes to reduce the use of petroleum-based binders.

Infravation

Infravation brings together funding from the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, USA and the EU into one common transnational Call framework, in order to fund joint research projects. Its objective is to enable a high quality infrastructure offering high service levels to the user/economy/society through solutions for both new and existing infrastructure. For this Call, the available budget for co-financing is 9 million euros.

Find more information here

PROJECT

The project will demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of different combinations of sustainable asphalt mixes that will replace virgin materials by recycled and renewable alternatives. The project will focus on two main components of the pavements. On the one side, it will look for the replacement of the virgin aggregates by recycled materials (e.g reclaimed asphalt pavement) and by products (e.g slags). On the other side, alternative green binders such as waste engine oils and bio-fluxing agents will be integrated in the mixes to reduce the use of petroleum-based binders.

ALTERPAVE is a market-oriented project. Thus, to demonstrate the project feasibility, it will be essential to consider the actual characteristics and availability of the recycled materials, by-products and alternative materials. In fact, the design of the ALTERPAVE pavement will vary depending on the availability of the waste in the region where it is placed.

Following a Circular Economy approach promoted by the European Commission and INFRAVATION, a supply Management Plan will be assessed in with availability and potential exploitation of RAP, by-products and bio-binders in the countries of the Consortium will be considered. This plan will be developed at regional level, identifying the alternative sustainable materials in each of the regions. Contacts with industries generating waste related to the project as well as recycling and waste management centres will be initiated during the project.

Moreover, the project will integrate the “Design for reuse” concept maximizing the recyclability rates of the new mixes. A smart labelling solution will be developed to facilitate and enhance future road maintenance and rehabilitation works while guaranteeing a suitable recycling of the alternative green materials.

The performance of the asphalt mixes, previously developed and tested at lab scale, will be validated via both, an Accelerated Load Test (ALT) and the construction of a pilot road section in Italy, where several parameters typical of a fully operative environment will be evaluated.

Finally, all the developments planned in this project will be accurately analysed by means Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA), which will demonstrate the environmental and economic benefits of the solution proposed apart from contributing to the dissemination of the technology and the revelation of its advantages to the stakeholders.

Proyect structure here

NEWS/EVENTS

27th March 2018

The workshop "Promotion of sustainable materials and circular economy in the road construction" took place in Carpiano, Milano (Italy), and was greatly organized by our colleagues from Impresa Bacchi, the project partner in charge of the test sections.

More than 50 people attended to the event, where representatives of the project consortium gave an overview of the results achieved: Impresa Bacchi (Italy), WRI (USA), VTI (Sweden), Acciona (Spain) and the University of Cantabria (Spain), as project coordinator.

At the end of the presentations, the attendees had the chance to visit the test sections paved by Impresa Bachi, in which different alternative materials and binder rejuvenators were used.

27th November 2017

TEST TRACK OF THE ALTERPAVE PROJECT ALREADY BUILT

The proof of concept of the project funded by the EC under the INFRAVATION call has been built by Impresa Bacchi, one of the project partners, in Carpiano (Italy). Alternative materials such as slags, foundry sands and reclaimed asphalt as well as different binder rejuvenators have been used in the different test sections paved.

27th October 2017

THE ALTERPAVE PROJECT CONTINUES TO RUN

The accelerated test with the Heavy Vehicle Simulator has already begun at the facilities of Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute VTI (Sweden).

25th October 2017

INFRAVATION ANNUAL EVENT IN COLOGNE (GERMANY)

Daniel Castro Fresno (University of Cantabria), coordinator of the ALTERPAVE project, participated in the final session on green road surface pavement projects of the Infravation Annual Event hold in Cologne, Germany. Professor Castro presented the progress made in that project during the last months: first impressions about the GIS-based tool; results from laboratory tests on binders and asphalt mixes in WRI, VTI, ACCIONA and UNICAN; launch of the accelerated loading test at VTI facilities; proposal of proof of concept in Carpiano, Italy.

13th July 2016

ALTERPAVE at the ERIC 2016

Members of the Construction Technology Applied Research Group (GITECO) will present the advances of the ongoing research activities developed in the ALTERPAVE project at the ERIC 2016 in Leeds. The European Road Infrastructure Congress (ERIC 2016) will be held on 18th-20th October 2016 in Leeds.

The ERIC 2016 will bring together industry representatives, academics, policy makers, research institutes and road authorities from across the continent to network, engage and share their knowledge on the highways sector.

20th April 2016

ALTERPAVE consortium meets in Carpiano, Milan.

ALTERPAVE participants met at the Installations of Impresa Bacchi, in Carpiano (Milan) on 20th April, for a technical and administrative meeting. During this face-to-face gathering, partners discussed topics related to the ongoing research activities and strategies for the near future tasks.

The consortium is expected to meet again in Autumn at the installations of the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) in Linköping.

12-13th November 2015

Infravationh Kick-off Meeting

The Kick-Off Meeting for the ERA-NET Plus Infravation 2014 Call projects took place on 12-13th November 2015 at Diamant Centre, Brussels. This event included the participation of the Infravation Steering Group, the Scientific Panel and the Project Coordinators and partners of each of the selected projects.

Access all the presentations and other key documents here

22nd October 2015

Project Kick-off Meeting

The Kick-off Meeting (KoM) of the ALTERPAVE project was held at the University of Cantabria (Spain) on 22nd October 2015.

In the meeting, participants discussed several issues mainly related to management structure and internal procedures, appointment of the Steering Committee and also technical discussions and decisions about the coming tasks and activities.

ABOUT INFRAVATION

Infravation brings together funding from the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, USA and the EU into one common transnational Call framework, in order to fund joint research projects. Its objective is to enable a high quality infrastructure offering high service levels to the user/economy/society through solutions for both new and existing infrastructure. For this Call, the available budget for co-financing is 9 million euros.

At their last meeting in Brussels on 15-16th April 2015, the ERA-Net Plus Infravation Steering Group agreed on the list of full proposals which had been selected for negotiation and funding. This selection list had arisen from the ranking list resulting from the peer-review of independent international experts. The negotiations of all the grant agreements of these proposals have been concluded and have led to the following nine projects, which are currently in their launch phase.

ALTERPAVE is co-funded by Funding Partners of the ERA-NET Plus Infravation and the European Commission.

PARTNERS