 Coal Tar‐Containing Asphalt Resource or Hazardous Waste?Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld, Karin Andersson, Bo Lind, Anna (Nyström) Claesson, Lennart Larsson, Pascal Suer and Torbjörn Jacobson Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2007, vol. 11, issue 4, 99-116 Abstract: Abstract: Coal tar was used in Sweden for the production of asphalt and for the drenching of stabilization gravel until 1973. The tar has high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), some of which may be strongly carcinogenic. Approximately 20 million tonnes of tar‐containing asphalt is present in the public roads in Sweden. Used asphalt from rebuilding can be classified as hazardous waste according to the Swedish Waste Act. The cost of treating the material removed as hazardous waste can be very high due to the large amount that has to be treated, and the total environmental benefit is unclear. The transport of used asphalt to landfill or combustion will affect other environmental targets. The present project, based on three case studies of road projects in Sweden, evaluates the consequences of four scenarios for handling the material: reuse, landfill, biological treatment, and incineration. The results show that reuse of the coal tar‐containing materials in new road construction is the most favorable alternative in terms of cost, material use, land use, energy consumption, and air emissions. Date: 2007 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:inecol:v:11:y:2007:i:4:p:99-116 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Journal of Industrial Ecology is currently edited by Reid Lifset More articles in Journal of Industrial Ecology from Yale University |
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