Modeling and validation of energy consumption in asphalt mixture production

Producing asphalt mixtures for pavement construction is an energy intensive process accompanied with enormous costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this study, a system of integrated thermodynamic models and a software tool were developed for the estimation of energy consumption in asphalt mixture production. The theoretical models were validated through a large amount of data collected from six asphalt mixture plants. This study contributes to construction engineering and management practices by revealing the fundamental heat and mass transfer processes in asphalt mixture production. It enables different asphalt mixture (batch) plants to use the same procedure for the estimation of energy use and the associated costs and emissions. It also helps examine the sensitivity of energy consumption to different influencing factors and offers the opportunity to improve production efficiency.