To which percentage can asphalt be recycled? Where can you use it again?

It can be recycled up to100%, and we can use asphalt again as15% of new asphalt and use it in the other layers of the road (sub-base , etc...)

Thanks,

Asphalt pavement is not only America’s most recycled and reused material, it now is being recycled and reused at a rate over99 percent. Use of environmentally friendly warm-mix asphalt grew by more than148 percent from2009 to2010, a trend that is expected to continue. Recycling of asphalt pavements and asphalt shingles in2010 alone conserved20.5 million barrels of asphalt binder. These are some of the key findings in a new survey of asphalt pavement usage, which NAPA completed under contract to the Federal Highway Administration. The report, titled Asphalt Pavement Mix Production Survey: (NAPA Information Series138), is available as a free download. The survey examined the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), recycled asphalt shingles (RAS), and warm-mix asphalt (WMA) in2009 and2010. RAP, RAS, and WMA conserve raw materials; conserve energy; cut emissions from production and paving operations; and improve conditions for workers.Some highlights from the data:• RAP: The asphalt industry remains the country’s number one recycler. The amount of RAP used in asphalt pavements was56.0 million tons in2009 and62.1 million tons in2010. Assuming5 percent liquid asphalt in RAP, this represents over3 million tons (19 million barrels) of asphalt binder conserved. About96 percent of the contractors/ branches reported using RAP. Less than1 percent of RAP was sent to landfills.• RAS: Use of recycled asphalt shingles (both manufacturer’s waste and tear-offs) increased from702,000 tons to1.10 million tons from2009 to2010, a57 percent increase. Assuming conservative asphalt content of20 percent for shingles, this represents234,000 tons (1.5 million barrels) of asphalt binder conserved.• WMA: Total tonnage of WMA is estimated at19.2 million tons in2009 and47.6 million tons in2010. This was a148 percent increase. Plant foaming is used most often in producing WMA. Additives accounted for about17 percent of the total WMA production in2009 and8 percent in2010.

Beautiful answers by the experts, thank you.

We have used recycled bituminous pavement mix in Tanzania in sub-layer effectively.

Use of asphalt with some addition of green asphalt still remains a question when endurances is being compared for various mixes but the mass can have a better utilization in sub-layers upon proper mix design.

Sabyasachi Kar

Kolkata, India