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Paving sustainable roads
Sed Ameen Kader , April 8h, 2013
Adoption of WMA and latest technologies will not onl help India
build roads faster but also la them in the most environment-
friendl manner
When a countrys plan is to build 54,000 kms of highways within a tight
deadline, the concern for greenhouse gas emissions from such
developments tends to take a back seat. At a time when the road
ministry is still in a catch-up mode to meet its own targets for building roads, the focus is far more on how
quickly roads can be built than the impact it may have on the environment. Though there has been a sea-
change in the quality of highways that are being laid out today (through PPP mode) in comparison to what it
used to be a few decades ago, sustainability is still to get its due attention in India.
There is this ever-ending debate on which types of roadsconcrete or asphaltare more environment-
friendly, with each side claiming to be greener than the other. Advocates of concrete roads claim that they
have a longer life-span, which means you need less energy for raw materials and rehabilitation in the long
run. Whereas, asphalt experts say that cement plants produce more greenhouse gases than an asphalt
plant. However, asphalt continues to be the most widely used road building material across the world,
accounting for more than 90 per cent of paved roads in the US and Europe. The story is not very different for
India also. However, the percentage of concrete roads is fast increasing in the country.
WMA TECHNOLOGY
There have been some major technological breakthroughs in the Westsomething which India can also
adopt for its roads and highway projects. Since the asphalt road building process involves heating of tar,
which is considered to be highly polluting, researchers were looking for a solution that can reduce
greenhouse emission. Incidentally, they already have come up with a new technology called warm mix
asphalt (WMA) in which an additive is mixed with hot mix asphalt (HMA) in desired proportion in order to lower
down the hot mix temperature from 150 degree celsius to 120 degree celsius. WMA offers many significant
advantages such as energy savings, decreased emissions and fumes, besides reducing binder aging. The
process of WMA is comparatively more economical because bitumen usage also gets lowered down, equal to
quantity of additive.
Researchers in Europe started developing warm mix asphalt in the late 1990s in order to reduce
greenhouse gas under the Kyoto Protocol. This technology is now widely used in the West. However, it is still
to catch up in India. Incidentally, if India starts using this technology as a replacement for HMA, it will be able
to earn carbon credits for reducing greenhouse gases.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Till date, the US and Europe have developed a number of WMA technologies such as synthetic zeolite,
Sasobit, Evotherm, WAM Foam, LEA, Rediset WMX and REVIX. There is a need to do some trials in India to
understand which types of WMA will be suitable for our country.
The Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) had undertaken a study on development of an additive to
produce asphalt mix at a temperature lower than hot mix asphalt. It also studied two types of commercially
available materials (wax- based and emulsion-based) for their physical and mechanical properties. The
institute has developed a new material which can compact the mix at as low as 90 degree celsius. However,
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the performance tests are still in progress.
In India, there are some WMA technologies available in the market from companies like Shell and MWV.
Evotherm is a WMA technology from MWV that allows reduction of mix production and compaction
temperature by 30 to 40 degree celsius. Evotherm is a liquid additive that is suitable for introducing at mix
plant or asphalt terminal. It is available in a ready-to-use form. "By decreasing environmental emissions upto
97 per cent and allowing a fume-free work environment, Evotherm WMA creates a more comfortable jobsite
for paving crews and for surrounding businesses and neighborhoods," says Suman Kar, sales manager,
asphalt innovations, MWV India. Evotherm has been evaluated at CRRI laboratory for suitability with Indian
mix design.
Kar says their product has been used to pave several Indian national and state highways. "The first major
paving project with Evotherm started in January 2011 on NH-10 near Rohtak, Haryana. Other notable projects
featuring Evotherm are SH-5 near Godhra, Gujarat; NH-1 near Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir; and NH-58
near Tapoban, Uttar Pradesh," he says, adding that since 2009, roughly 50 lane kms of Evotherm warm mix
pavements have been executed on Indian highways.
However, these are just a few instances where WMA technology was used. Though the contractors recover
the initial cost of WMA technology in terms of fuel savings and other benefits, Kar says, there are no
incentives for contractors to use environment-friendly technologies in India.
Another company, Shell has also developed warm mix asphalt technology called Thiopave, which enables a
proportion of the bitumen in the asphalt mixture to be replaced with sulphur and special additives.
Ashoka Buildcon has been using WMA technology on experimental basis for its roads projects. The
company is convinced with potential of WMA in terms of laboratory results as it reduces fuel consumption by
10-15 per cent. "However, there is a need to observe and evaluate all the aspects in terms of field results
under Indian conditions. As on date, we have found the results fairly encouraging," says Sanjay Londhe,
director, Ashoka Buildcon.
His company had used Thiopave on experimental basis on toll way work of NH-3 from Pimpalgaon Nashik
Gonde (km 380 to 440). The company had decided to utilise Thiopave as an additive for hot mix hot laid
DBM mixes for maximum portions of the balance work after due consent from independent consultants of
NHAI.
ROADBLOCKS FOR WMA
The existing stringent contract conditions for roads in India are acting as the biggest deterrent for extensive
use of WMA. The concessionaire is bound to work under the limitations of the contract. There is a need to
make separate provision for use of WMA in contract agreement by authorities. It would be very beneficial if a
technical committee be formed, to address such issues and enable the incorporation of newer and innovative
technologies of construction," says Londhe of Ashoka Buildcon.
In order to promote latest technology, industry players suggest that the responsibility of implementing such
solutions should be shared by engineers also who can make efforts to adopt and implement such measures
wherever possible. "As specifications for the production and placement of WMA are developed, contractors
will become more confident about using WMA technologies," says Kar of WMA.
RECLAIMED ASPHALT PAVEMENT
Whatever the glue material (concrete or asphalt) may be, the main component of a road is rock (granite chips
or crushed stone). The more you build new roads, the more you need raw materials. Since the government
has massive expansion plans of converting existing four-lane roads into six-lane, it makes sense for them to
go for recycling of already-used construction materials.
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Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal, an expert in road building technology, in an open letter to the chairman of the
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), has questioned why the burial of bitumen is done so
indiscriminately on some of the highways, which are being six-laned from the existing four lanes. Existing four
lanes of bituminous pavement get buried while constructing vehicle under passes, public under passes,
and flyovers. In such cases, the existing bituminous pavement usually consisting of dense bituminous
macadam (DBM) and bituminous concrete (BC) can be milled off and the reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP)
transported to hot mix plant for recycling, he said.
Innovative road building techniques such as cold milling and recycling could be very effective in India as the
process not only involves extracting materials from the existing roads but also re-use them for paving new
roads. Cold recycling of damaged pavements is the most environmentally-friendly and also a highly
economical method of road rehabilitation, which saves natural resources at the same time. Wirtgen, which
manufactures such machines, says the usage of such technology is still in a nascent stage. In a small country
like France, Wirtgen says, it sells 200 milling machines a year. Last year, it sold 400 machines in China.
The challenge for this technology is lack of awareness in India. Also the Indian road building codes do not
encourage the use of RAP. "We are in touch with the authorities and also with the IITs to inform them on the
latest technologies being used in Europe and USA and also in China with regard to cold milling and recycling,"
says Ramesh Palagiri, MD and CEO, Wirtgen India.
Cost savings largly depend on the condition of the existing road and new design to which the road has to be
designed. However, the savings can vary between 10 to 25 per cent, depending on several factors.
But more than the saving on costs, Palagiri says, the technology helps saving precious natural resources like
aggregates and bitumen.
GREEN MACHINES
Major international companies such as Wirtgen, Case, Volvo and Caterpillar, besides others, are responding
well to the market need by constantly working on improving the performance and technology of machines.
Case India, for example, is launching an upgraded version of its tandem compactor model, Case 752, at bC
Mumbai. The 9-ton vibratory compactor, which is equipped with a water-cooled engine, helps reduce the
engine temperature substantially. This technology offers longer engine-life and lower fuel consumption.
We upgrade our machines to ensure the best fuel efficiency in their class, longer life cycle expectancy, and
minimal operating costs, says Anil Bhatia, director sales and marketing, Case India.
Volvo Construction Equipment, which sells compactors, rollers and pavers in India, says all its machines
which were sold in the last one and half year meet government-mandated tier-III standards besides being very
fuel efficient. As our machines burn lesser fuel, they emit lesser carbon, says AM Muralidharan, president,
Volvo Construction Equipment. But he says its time for India to look at the specifications of road construction.
We are still using some 30-40 year old technology in terms of what should be the grade or base materials or
asphalt. As our traffic density and load factors have been increasing, we need to look at specifications of
roads itself," adds Muralidharan.
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