C H A P T E R 8 : PA P E R 7 7 627

PA P E R 7 7

Asphalt Emulsions for

Sustainable Pavements

Étienne le Bouteiller
Technical and Development Manager (International), COLAS S.A.,
Boulogne Billancourt Cedex, France

ABSTRACT

Asphalt emulsions are mainly used for pavement maintenance, including both surface maintenance (e.g. sur-
face dressing, micro surfacing) and structure maintenance (e.g. cold in-place recycling, gravel emulsion).
Versatile and adaptable, asphalt emulsion techniques can be used in a wide variety of situations and are
very attractive from an economic viewpoint.
These techniques are well known and enjoy ongoing improvements through the use of new chemistry, new
formulae and design, not to mention new manufacturing and laying equipment.
Beyond pavement maintenance and sustainable pavements, asphalt emulsions contribute to sustainable
development by reducing energy consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases. Models have been devel-
oped and assessed that show the positive impact of the use of asphalt emulsions on these parameters, fully in
line with the “Declaration on Environment and Climate Change” adopted by the Group of 8 (G8) in June 2008.

INTRODUCTION

Pavement preservation is a global concept. In fact, road network operators have the responsibility of main-
taining the asset they are in charge of, but such a responsibility goes far beyond the mere preservation of pave-
ments.
Primarily, road users’ safety should be ensured at all times. This social -and financial- requirement will be
translated by road engineers into technical parameters such as evenness and skid resistance.
Beyond the road users, it is the needs of the whole community which have to be addressed. This is the
societal responsibility of the road network operators. Such responsibility may cover several aspects:
— Noise emission and limitation for inhabitants who live in the vicinity of the roads,
— Impact of road work on people,
— Safety of the workers in charge of the roadwork,
— Environmental impact of road works,
— Environmental impact of traffic.
Last but not least, the financial constraints lead the operators to search for the best compromises, by
selecting the most appropriate technologies.
6 28 Compendium of Papers from the First International Conference on Pavement Preservation

B A C KG R O U N D

Road networks: an asset to be maintained

“Roads: Primary Asset of Nations”. This was the motto of the 15th International Road Federation World Meet-
ing that was held in Bangkok, Thailand in June 2005.
Like any asset, it has to be maintained. This is pavement preservation. The budgetary expenses that need
to be devoted to pavement preservation should be compared to the actual value of the asset. Beyond this sin-
gle consideration, one should realize that expanding a road network means that the maintenance needs will
be automatically and proportionally increased.
Like any asset, a road network will deteriorate if left without maintenance. Initially, the main part of a road
budget is devoted to construction of new roads. The more developed a road network, the more maintenance
it will require.
However, “Roads in many parts of the world are poorly managed and badly maintained, usually by
bureaucratic government road departments. The poor state of the road network is reflected in the large back-
log of deferred maintenance. […] Even in industrial economies such backlogs are common and becoming
more so. For example, in 1996 a survey conducted by the U.K. Institution of Civil Engineers found that in Great
Britain there was a $5.61 billion maintenance backlog on local government roads (69 percent of the total pub-
lic network). Because countries have consistently spent far too little on routine and periodic maintenance in
the past 20 years, much of the large amount of money already invested in roads has been eroded” [1].
Surprisingly (or not?), reliable data about road expenditure are available, while it is quite difficult to as-
sess the value of the capital investment involved. It becomes, therefore, impossible to evaluate the relative cost
of road maintenance (maintenance cost v/s asset value).
As an example, the International Road Federation issues periodic “World Road Statistics” that include,
inter alia, countries profiles, road network, road traffic, vehicles in use [2].
On the other hand, data about the road capital are quite scarce. In most cases, that asset belongs to the Gov-
ernment (National or Local Road Authorities and Agencies), and it is, therefore, an inalienable asset, even if
its management can be entrusted to third parties (concessions and other PPP).
In France, for instance, the value of the 28,000 km national road network (including the toll free motor-
ways) that is managed by the Ministry of Transport is assessed at €125 billion [3], figure to which one can add
the value of the conceded motorway network, of about €55 billion [4].
On top of this, one can add the value of the road networks that are managed by local authorities and
councils (close to 1 million km as a whole). Using the above figures, the value of the total French road network
can be estimated at some €1,000 billion [5]. Even if the accuracy of the estimate may be questioned, such an
enormous amount represents approximately two thirds of the yearly GDP of France (1€ = 1.4023 US$ July
1st 2009). Similar calculations may be done for other countries, and would likely lead to similar conclusions.
But, of course, if any road network requires decades to build, it has also been built to last for decades.

Maintenance principles
Maintenance principles follow the pavement concept principles: a pavement is made of two parts:
— The structure,
— The surface.
The structure is the major part of the pavement. Its role is to transfer the traffic loads to the subgrade.
The design of the structure derives from this concept: it is made of a base and a sub-base course. The thick-
ness of each of these layers will respectively depend on the traffic and the bearing capacity of the subgrade. The
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load transfer induces repeated stresses within the materials, leading to failure by fatigue after a certain num-
ber of loads without maintenance. Maintaining the structure will therefore be carried out according to the fol-
lowing principles:
— Thickness increase,
— Restoration of the mechanical characteristics of the materials.
Pavements are usually designed for a 20-30 year lifetime.
The surface is meant to ensure an adequate interface between the pavement itself and the vehicles’
tires, thus providing the vehicle and its occupants with:
— Safety: skid resistance, evenness,
— Comfort: noise reduction, evenness.
From a design point of view, this interface is made of a wearing course, its thickness aimed to be mini-
mum, as its composition requires the use of high quality materials (aggregates, asphalt). In practice, this thick-
ness is a combination of the characteristics of the associated product used as a wearing course, and the profile
of the surface on which it has to be laid. Traffic induces the wearing of the materials which will have to be
replaced, renewed, and/or overlaid, by a new wearing course. The lifetime of wearing courses usually ranges
between 5 and 15 years.

A short history of asphalt emulsion

Asphalt emulsion: patent in 1923

630 Compendium of Papers from the First International Conference on Pavement Preservation

Asphalt emulsion has become a technical product, used in technical systems. This achievement has only
been made possible thanks to the commitment of the industry as a whole: road industry, emulsifier and as-
phalt suppliers and equipment manufacturers. Recognition of such commitment was realized with the World
Emulsion Congress [7], initiated in 1993 by COLAS [8]. The fifth congress is to be held in Lyon (France) in
October 2010.

A S P H A LT E M U L S I O N S A N D PAV E M E N T P R E S E R VAT I O N

Surface and structure

As described above, design and maintenance principles lead to systems (materials and techniques) that suit
specific needs. In this respect, asphalt emulsion techniques fulfill the requirements of both structural and sur-
face maintenance principles:
— Grave emulsion and cold recycling are used for structural maintenance,
— Micro surfacing and surface dressing are used for surface maintenance
These are not the only asphalt emulsion based techniques. Intermediates such as stabilization, improved
cold mixes, Cape seal and fog seals are available within a large technical portfolio. A brief description of some
aspects of the emulsion techniques is proposed hereafter. International and national associations (US [9],
France [10] and many others) have made available some technical handbooks that describe the various
options in details.

Structure improvement
Grave emulsion
Grave emulsion is obtained by dispersing a controlled slow-breaking emulsion into an aggregate mix and then
cold-mixing the combination. In terms of maintenance, this material is suited for:
— Reprofiling,
— Local repairs,
— General overlaying and reinforcement.
A specificity of grave emulsion is that it enables bevel joints with existing pavements, thus saving in the
materials used. This quality is unique to grave emulsion.
It is a typical reinforcement system, in which the pavement resistance has been improved by the use of a
thick overlay.
On a larger scale, i.e. cold mixes, some significant technical developments have been conducted in the
past decades, such as the OPTEL project, initiated within the 4th European R&D framework programme Brite-
Euram III. The prime ambition of the OPTEL project (Slow Setting Cationic Bituminous Emulsions for Con-
struction and Maintenance of Roads) was to improve our fundamental understanding of the various
underlying phenomena. This leads to the design of a more rational formulation and optimization methodol-
ogy for cold mixes and thus to foster a broader use of this technique [11].

Cold in-place recycling

This consists in the retreatment all, or part, of a carriageway with asphalt emulsion, rejuvenating or not, with
or without addition of granular materials. Such a process leads to formation of a sub-base layer or base course
layer, depending on the conditions. This layer then requires a suitable wearing course, such as surface dress-
ing or micro surfacing.
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In such a case, the pavement lifetime has been improved by processing the material itself, without the
addition of a significant extra-layer.

Cold in place recycling

Cold in-place recycling has been developed over the past 30 years, with consistently growing interest from
the owners and communities. In Europe, the European Commission decided to finance a research project on
in-place cold retreatment called SCORE (Superior Cold Recycling) based on the benefits of bituminous emul-
sions [12].

Surface treatment
Micro surfacing and surface dressing
As their names imply, these layers are thin (say 10 to 20 mm). They are meant to restore the superficial char-
acteristics of the surface, thus providing it with adequate skid resistance and waterproofing.

Micro surfacing

Micro surfacing is a mixture of asphalt emulsion (usually modified), selected mineral aggregates, water
and specific additives in set proportions, mixed and applied evenly onto a clean, prepared surface. All the
operations are made on site, using a single dedicated machine. This allows for quick laying, with low traffic
632 Compendium of Papers from the First International Conference on Pavement Preservation

disruption, which might be a specific requirement from the owner. As a matter of fact, professionals know how
to design mixes that allow for traffic reopening within 30 minutes max.
Surface dressing is a thin wearing course consisting of superimposed layers of chippings and asphalt emul-
sion. The composition of the surface dressing, the quantity of materials per unit surface area and the desired
qualities depend on the requirement for a particular situation. A number of different parameters must be
taken into consideration for each specific pavement, for example: type of substrate, traffic level, etc. The
optimum technical solution, in line with economical considerations, is selected from the possible binder - ag-
gregate combinations.
Surface dressing is known to be the most economical surface technique; this is a reason why it is widely
used worldwide, in both industrialized and developing countries [13]. Since its early days, the technique has
been improved throughout the world, using various techniques. Such development and variety lead the ARRB
to organize the 1st sprayed sealing conference in Adelaide, Australia, in July 2008 [14].

Expanding structural lifetime

Although these techniques are meant to restore the surface characteristics of a pavement, they also improve
the waterproofing of the whole structure. As a result, the characteristics of the materials are preserved while
reducing the water content of the subgrade. In case of materials sensitive to water content, such protection will
have a considerable impact on the lifetime of the pavement, as the latter may be endangered by the weakness
of the subgrade. This is typically the case for clayish or silty materials.

Pavement design handbook

The following example shows the impact of the bearing capacity of the subgrade, when the latter is altered
from 50 to 25 MPa (Using the French pavement design method [15]):

Table 1. Impact of the bearing capacity of the subgrade on the pavement lifetime
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Such figures are significant. For rural roads, it is one of the reasons why SABITA [16] is steadily promot-
ing the surfacing of gravel roads [17]. This interest is shared by the International Road Federation which will
be organizing the 2009 convention on rural roads (Arusha, Tanzania, 25 November 2009 - 27 November 2009),
in cooperation with TARA (Tanzania Roads Association).

DEVELOPMENTS

Standardization and common understanding

With the increasing globalization of the markets, it has appeared more and more necessary to develop a com-
mon understanding between the professionals. This was one of the reasons why national associations decided,
in 1993, to join forces and create the IBEF [6]. In order to promote direct communication between its mem-
bers, the IBEF organizes, every 4 years, a symposium “World Of Emulsions”, connected to the Emulsion World
Congress [8]. The next symposium is scheduled for Oct. 11th, 2010.

In Europe, the members of the European Union have struggled hard for years towards unified and com-
mon systems that have been materialized by the European Standards. These standards are based on perform-
ance. One should also note that the European standard system requires additional commitments from the
industry regarding systematic and audited quality control. This trend is in favor of a real industrial approach
of emulsion manufacturing as well as of its uses. Such standards are now in force for Asphalt emulsions,
surface dressings and micro surfacings.
This approach is not unique to Europe. In New Zealand, performance-based chip sealing contracts are re-
ported. Since the original “scientific” analysis of chip seals and a development of a design methodology were
made by Hansen in the 1930s, some major changes have occurred.
634 Compendium of Papers from the First International Conference on Pavement Preservation

Health Safety and Environment

Growing concerns about the environment, together with improved regulations related to the welfare of work-
ers and the general population have lead professionals to move towards a global and integrated concept of
Health, Safety and Environment (HSE).
Until 10 or 20 years ago, a technique was promoted by highlighting its performance and cost, to obtain
the best performance v/s cost ratio. Health, Safety and Environment issues did not play the role they do today.
When the first meeting of the Asphalt Emulsion Association was organized in 1993, the agenda did not include
one single presentation about HSE. However, in his interview, the chairman of the SFERB stated: “Asphalt
emulsions contribute to environmental friendliness, since it is one of the most ecological road products. It is,
without any doubt, a product with numerous applications and good prospects”. In 1997, two papers were
presented about “safety” and “the environment”.
During the 2008 E&E congress in Copenhagen, the moderator for Session 7 (Energy reduction / Lower
temperature technologies / Technology transfer) stated in his introduction: “Some twenty years ago, an easy
way to start a presentation on paving materials was to state that the road network had to face increasing traf-
fic volumes and axle weights. Nowadays, the new challenges are energy saving, sustainable and environmen-
tal-friendly development”.
This confirms that the industry has been taking this third parameter into account for some time, especially
through its associations. The balance is no longer just “performance – cost”, but “performance – cost – HSE”.
For instance, tar was used for years in many countries, and was progressively abandoned or even prohib-
ited. The same trend has occurred for the cut backs. On the other hand, the industry has been promoting
more and more “green” systems, such as rape seed oil instead of solvent for some surface dressing emulsions.
In Europe, HSE concerns have driven European policy to implement the REACH regulation for the Reg-
istration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals. REACH entered into force on June 1st 2007
and places greater responsibility on the industry to evaluate and manage the risks that chemicals may pose to
health and the environment. REACH applies to all chemical substances and, thus, to liquid asphalt and emul-
sifiers. First in-line are the producers and importers of the substances, who have to do the actual registration.
But emulsion producers and users will be impacted as well. Some emulsifiers and additives that are currently
used may, indeed, disappear from the market. Moreover, emulsion producers and downstream users will have
to contribute to the assessment of risk by estimating and measuring the exposure to substances in relation to
emulsion formulations and application.
The incentives to develop energy saving, safe and environmentally friendly techniques are higher than
ever, and it is believed that bituminous emulsions are still in a leading position.

Equipment
The past twenty years have seen major improvements in the equipment, thanks to innovative manufacturers
and progress in automation engineering and electronics. This applies to manufacturing equipment as well as
to laying techniques.

Manufacturing
Asphalt emulsion is an industry. Therefore, the manufacturers have constantly selected the best suitable avail-
able technologies, such as:
— Flow metering (electromagnetic and mass flow meters),
— In line control (pH measurement with automatic acid proportioning),
— Automatic processing, mainly for starting and stopping procedures,
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— Electronic data recording of numerous parameters, which makes possible to trace not only the char-
acteristics of the manufactured product, but also the corresponding manufacturing process param-
eters,
— Remote maintenance of the plants, remote control of the storage (raw materials and finished products).

Laying techniques
For surface dressings, new machines are now used, which spray the binder and then spread the aggregate
immediately afterwards. Such machines prevent any run off of the emulsion on the surface, thus keeping an
even transversal distribution of the binder. Moreover, this system ensures that the aggregates will be spread on
an unbroken emulsion, thus optimizing the adhesion of the aggregate to the asphalt. Both these factors con-
tribute to the lifetime of the surface dressing.
Improvements in automation engineering and electronics have also helped to optimize the functioning
of the machines, improving the flow of materials, while recording the quantities used. Such records are also
evidence of the quality of the works. Traceability is thus ensured.
For complex processes, such as cold in-place recycling, profilers are equipped with computers that enable
to get the right final mix, ensuring an adequate consistency of the end result.

E N E R G Y S AV I N G S A N D G R E E N H O U S E G A S E S E M I S S I O N S

Global awareness
AT the UN conference on human environment held in 1972 in Stockholm, ecological questions appeared for
the first time amongst international concerns. The UN program for the environment was created on that
occasion. At the same time, the “Club of Rome” issued a famous report entitled “stop growing?” A summit
was then held in Nairobi in 1982, but its outcomes were altered by the international context of the cold war.
Since these events, the World summits on sustainable development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and
Johannesburg in 2002 have placed environmental issues on the forefront of thinking and concerns, now shared
worldwide.

Tools for the construction industry

For its part, the road community, as a whole, has taken initiatives in order to evaluate its role in this context.
As a major and global player, the International Road Federation has joined in this debate, by the means of
events such as the “Road and the Environment” seminar, held in Geneva in 2007, that gathered various spe-
cialists from international organizations and NGOs such as the Word Bank, PIARC or the Borneo Tropical For-
est Foundation.
In the meantime, the international community has started to set standards that are meant to assess the im-
pact of human activities on the environment. Such standards facilitate understanding between players active
at a global level. Amongst these standards, one may recall the EN ISO 14040 (June 1997) entitled “Environ-
ment management – life cycle analysis – principles and framework”.
Life cycle analysis is a technique for assessing the environmental aspects and the environmental impacts
associated with a product, a process, a material. One of its aspects is to identify and select adequate indicators,
together with the corresponding measurement methods.
For the construction industry, including road works, the main environmental impacts to be taken into
account are the following:
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Table 2. Environmental impacts

This list is part of the French Standard 01-010 (2004) “Environmental quality of construction products
– Environmental and health declaration of construction products”.

In France, such impacts have been assessed for asphalt emulsions, within an adapted framework, as shown
hereunder [18]:
Table 3. Environmental impacts of asphalt emulsion

These impacts may be classified according to the following criteria:

— Short, medium, long term
— Local, global
In this respect, both consumption of energy and climate change may be seen as the most critical areas, as
they involve the long term and the whole world community.
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Tools for the road industry

Energy is a major part of the costs borne by the road industry, and therefore by the community. Most of this
energy consists in hydrocarbons (fuel, gas) used by trucks for the transportation of materials, as well as by var-
ious plants and equipment such as asphalt plants and installation machines (pavers, compactors).
For the road industry, saving energy therefore means costs savings that will be transferred to the owners
and to the global community. Another positive consequence is that fuel or gas savings will automatically re-
sult in a reduction in CO2 emissions.
Environmental issues are often perceived as constraints. This should not be the case when a proper holis-
tic approach is adopted. In the field of road construction, it is clear that it is the opposite: an environmental
constraint that would lead to energy savings and CO2 reduction would result in costs savings.
In this way, limiting the consumption of energy as well as the production of CO2 goes beyond the single
pavement preservation concept, and towards a global sustainable development scheme.
This approach has been reinforced in 2008: In June 2008, the Group of 8 adopted a “Declaration on
Environment and Climate Change”. Even if it differs from a treaty, this declaration states: “We seek […] to con-
sider and adopt in the UNFCCC negotiations, the goal of achieving at least 50% reduction of global emissions
by 2050 […]. Substantial progress toward such a long-term goal requires […] the acceleration of the deploy-
ment of existing technologies, and in the medium- and long-term, will depend on the development and de-
ployment of low-carbon technologies […]. In this regard, we emphasize the importance and urgency of
adopting appropriate measures to stimulate development and deployment of innovative technologies and
practices.”

The “Écologiciel®”

Taking these new concerns into accounts, the road industry stakeholders have started to develop dedicated and
pragmatic tools meant to assess the impact of road techniques on the environment, as far as energy con-
sumption and CO2 emission are concerned. One of this tool is the Écologiciel®, or software developed to as-
sess the performance of any road technique, and which was officially presented to the road community during
the PIARC congress in Durban, South Africa, 2003 [19].
638 Compendium of Papers from the First International Conference on Pavement Preservation

Asphalt emulsions, pavement preservation and sustainable development

Such an approach will definitively boost the development of cold technologies, based on the use of emul-
sions. As an example, a comparison is made between hot and cold mix manufacturing.

Table 4. CO2 emission and energy consumption for cold v/s hot processes

This is not theory: in Japan, “JEEA has been promoting that cold mix with asphalt emulsion can be man-
ufactured at low energy consumption and it is effective to decrease CO2 emission”.
Other comparisons can be made when in-place recycling is used instead of conventional strengthening
works:

Table 5. CO2 emission and energy consumption for various techniques

As far as surface treatment is concerned, the comparison of various techniques clearly shows the differ-
ence between hot and cold techniques, when such parameters are taken into account [19].

Table 6. CO2 emission and energy consumption for various surfacing techniques
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CONCLUSION

Pavement preservation is a national duty. Road owners have a wide portfolio of suitable techniques, which
can be optimized so that the whole community gets good value for money.
Beyond such economical efficiency, new requirements have arisen in the field of environment preserva-
tion. These new requirements lead to the identification of new criteria which will help select the most appro-
priate techniques from the available portfolio.
The main new criteria are energy consumption and CO2 emissions. They are significant and even crucial,
as they deal with global and long term impacts. Asphalt emulsion techniques are appropriate answers to such
challenges.

REFERENCES

[1] Commercial Management and Financing of Roads (World Bank technical paper n° 409)

[2] International Road Federation (World Road Statistics 2008. Data 2001 to 2006)

[3] Rapport de la Cour des comptes (2000) quoted by 2004 Statistiques du Transport en France – Faits et Chiffres Union Routière de
France

[4] Ministère de l’Équipement France. Mémento de la Route (1998)

[5] USIRF France, from http://www.usirf.com

[6] International Bitumen Emulsion Federation, from http://www.ibef.net

[7] Congrès Mondial de l’Émulsion, from http://www.cme-emulsion.com

[8] COLAS S.A. France, from http://www.colas.com

[9] Asphalt Emulsion Manufacturers Association, from http://www.aema.org

[10] Section des Fabricants d’Émulsions Routières de Bitume, from http://www.usirf.com/sferb.php

[11] Revue Générale des Routes (n°312) (October 2001)

[12] Revue Générale des Routes n°848 (April/May 2006)

[13] Le Bouteiller E. & Roffé JC. Bitumen emulsion based surface dressings in Europe. 1st international sprayed sealing conference
27/29 July 2008. Adelaide South Australia

[14] ARRB Group, from http://www.arrb.com.au/

[15] French Design Manual for Pavement Structures (SETRA LCPC) (1997)

[16] South African Bitumen Association, from http://www.sabita.co.za

640 Compendium of Papers from the First International Conference on Pavement Preservation

[17] Asphalt News (Volume 22) (February 2008)

[18] Bitumen emulsions. USIRF Routes de France (September 2008)

[19] Sustainable development. The environmental road of the future. Life cycle analysis. COLAS (September 2003)