journal article·2026-02

Quantifying the environmental impacts of reduced temperature chemical warm-mix asphalt with life cycle assessment

Adeoluwa Peter Gbolade, Debakanta Mishra

Publisher page

Abstract

This manuscript presents findings from a research study focussed on using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify the environmental impacts of chemical Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) during mix production, and over a pavement’s service life. One Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA), and two WMAs were considered. Based on data collected from multiple asphalt plants, an average reduction of 19.2% in fuel consumption was attributed to reduced mix production temperatures. This led to reduced global warming and smog formation potentials during WMA production. However, the WMA mixes had increased ozone depletion and eutrophication potentials. Published data on the performance of in-service pavements constructed with chemical WMA technology were used to select an achievable improvement in pavement service life over similar HMA sections, and this was incorporated into the LCA framework. WMA pavements were found to have lower yearly environmental impacts than the HMA pavement in four out of five impact categories considered.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Asphalt Pavement Performance Evaluation · Smart Materials for Construction · Infrastructure Maintenance and Monitoring

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Oklahoma State University

Funding

Oklahoma Department of Transportation

References (36)

Show source-provided references
1. 10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.10.07710.1016/j.jclepro.2015.10.077 ↗
2. Athena Sustainable Materials Institute (Athena). (2015). Athena Impact Estimator for Highways (Software) (Version 2). Ottawa Canada.
3. Bare, J., Young, D., Qam, S., Hopton, M., & Chief, S. (2012). Tool for the reduction and assessment of chemical and other environmental impacts (TRACI). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
4. Cazzola, P., Cuenot, F., Kojima, K., Onoda, T., Staub, J., & Taylor, M. (2009). Transport, energy, and CO2: Moving towards sustainability. International Energy Agency.
5. D’Angelo J. Harm E. Bartoszek J. Baumgardner G. Corrigan M. Cowsert J. Harman T. Jamshidi M. Jones W. Newcomb D. Prowell B. Sines R. & Yeaton B. (2008). Warm-Mix Asphalt: European Practice. (Report No. FHWA-PL-08-007). Federal Highway Administration Washington DC.
6. Environmental Protection Agency. (2023). Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2021. EPA 430-R-23-002. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks-1990-2021
7. Estakhri C. (2012). Laboratory and Field Performance Measurements to Support the Implementation of Warm Mix Asphalt in Texas. No. FHWA/TX-12/5-5597-01-1. Texas Transportation Institute.
8. Federal Highway Administration. (2014). “Highway Statistics 2014”. Office of Highway Policy Information. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics
9. Federal Highway Administration. (2021). LCA pave tool. Federal Highway Administration. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pavement/lcatool/
10. Federal LCA Commons. (2024). “LCA Commons Data Repository”. United States. Retrieved September 12 2024 from https://www.lcacommons.gov/lca-collaboration/
11. FHWA Climate Change Community of Scholars. (2024). Background data repository. Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved September 12, 2024, from https://sites.google.com/mtu.edu/community-of-scholars/resources
12. GreenDelta. (2007). OpenLCA software. GreenDelta. https://www.openlca.org/
13. Greenhouse-Gas Assessment Spreadsheet for CAPital Projects (GASCAP). (2014). (Spreadsheet tool). Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University. http://vtc.rutgers.edu/gascap
14. 10.1016/j.jclepro.2010.08.00210.1016/j.jclepro.2010.08.002 ↗
15. Harvey, J., Meijer, J., & Kendall, A. (2014). Life cycle assessment of pavements: Techbrief. FHWA-HIF-15-001. Federal Highway Administration.
16. Harvey, J., Meijer, J., Ozer, H., Al-Qadi, I. L., Saboori, A., & Kendall, A. (2016). Pavement life cycle assessment framework. FHWA-HIF-16-014. Federal Highway Administration.
17. Hassan, M. (2009). Life-Cycle assessment of warm-Mix asphalt: An environmental and economic perspective. Transportation Research Board.
18. Horvath A. (2003). Pavement life-cycle assessment tool for environmental and economic effects (PaLATE). (software). Consortium on Green Design and Manufacturing University of California.
19. International Organization for Standardization. (2006). “Environmental labels and declarations - type III environmental declarations - principles and procedures”. ISO standard 14025. International Organization for Standardization.
20. Meijer J. Harvey J. Butt A. Kim C. Ram P. Smith K. & Saboori A. (2021). LCA pave: A tool to assess environmental impacts of pavement material and design decisions-underlying methodology and assumptions. FHWA-HIF-22-033. Federal Highway Administration.
21. Miller L. (2020). “Emerald Eco-Label: Methods for Correctness Checks”. https://www.asphaltpavement.org/uploads/documents/EPD_Program/Emerald_Eco-Label_CorrectnessCheckMethodology.pdf
22. Mukherjee, A. (2016). Life cycle assessment of asphalt mixtures in support of an environmental product declaration. National Asphalt Pavement Association.
23. National Asphalt Pavement Association. (2017a). Emerald Eco-label tool. National Asphalt Pavement Association. https://www.asphaltpavement.org/programs/napa-programs/emerald-eco-label
24. National Asphalt Pavement Association. (2017b). Product category rules (PCR) for asphalt mixtures. National Asphalt Pavement Association.
25. 10.1520/JTE2022027210.1520/JTE20220272 ↗
26. Prowell, B. D., Hurley, G. C., & Frank, B. (2011). Warm-Mix asphalt: Best practices. National Asphalt Pavement Association.
27. Ram P. V. Hoerner T. E. Meijer J. Smith K. D. Harvey J. & Butt A. (2021). “LCA Pave: A Tool to Assess Environmental Impacts of Pavement Material and Design Decisions-User Manual”. FHWA-HIF-22-032. Federal Highway Administration. United States.
28. Saboori A. Butt A. A. Harvey J. Ostovar M. Li H. & Wang T. (2022). Pavement Life Cycle Inventories for California: Models and Data Development in the Last Decade for Caltrans.
29. Santero N. (2009). Pavements and the environment: A life-cycle assessment approach [Ph.D. Thesis]. ProQuest. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of California.
30. 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.000043410.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0000434 ↗
31. Shacat J. Willis R. J. & Ciavola B. (2022). GHG Emissions Inventory for Asphalt Mix Production in the United States. Report Number: SIP 106. National Asphalt Pavement Association.
32. Shen S. Wu S. Zhang W. Mohammad L. & Muhunthan B. (2017). Long-term field performance of warm mix asphalt technologies. NCHRP Report No. 843 National Cooperative Highway Research Program Transportation Research Board Washington DC.
33. Van Dam T. J. Harvey J. Muench S. T. Smith K. D. Snyder M. B. Al-Qadi I. L. Ozer H. Meijer J. Ram P. V. Roesler J. R. & Kendall A. (2015). Towards Sustainable Pavement Systems: A Reference Document. FHWA-HIF-15-002. Federal Highway Administration Washington DC.
34. Wang K. Li J. Q. & Yang G. G. (2019). Long Term Pavement Performance Monitoring of Six LTPP SPS-10 Sections in Oklahoma with 3D Laser Imaging. FHWA-OK-19-05 2115. Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
35. West R. Rodezno C. & Julian G. (2014). Field Performance of Warm Mix Asphalt Technologies. NCHRP Report No. 779 National Cooperative Highway Research Program Transportation Research Board Washington DC.
36. Williams B. A. Willis R. J. & Shacat J. (2020). Asphalt Pavement Industry Survey on Recycled Materials and Warm-Mix Asphalt Usage. Report Number: IS 138 (10e) National Asphalt Pavement Association Greenbelt Maryland.