Material flow analysis study of asphalt in an Austrian municipality

Daniel Grossegger

Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2022, vol. 26, issue 3, 996-1009

Abstract: The large quantity and long service time of construction has a crucial impact on the flow of resources during construction, maintenance, and at the end of life. Reducing waste disposal and increasing recycling rates consequently reduce the consumption of primary raw materials. Hence, through material flow and stock analysis, material consumption, waste generation, and waste utilization can be quantified. Previous research on the material turnover in the transportation infrastructure sector focused on well‐developed cities or countries and showed that maintenance has an increasing contribution to the material input and output. The present study investigated the anthropogenic flows and stocks of asphalt in the road network of an Austrian municipality. The material flow analysis was based on detailed construction reports, regional expert estimations, simulations, and literature. The retrospective analysis from 2006 to 2020 revealed that the asphalt stock of the municipality is constantly increasing through semierratic input and output flows of asphalt. Maintenance of the road network through reconstruction made a major contribution to the stock increase due to improving the road layout. Asphalt outputs of the municipality are reclaimed asphalt, excess asphalt during construction, and asphalt dispersed from the road due to deterioration. The flow into the environment is often neglected but diminishes the potential recycling amount, contributes to dust pollution, and is a source of microplastic. Reclaimed asphalt was not utilized in new asphalt mixtures in the municipality, as it was downcycled and applied as granular material. Several factors, including regional circumstances, were identified for downcycling. This article met the requirements for a gold‐gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges.

Date: 2022
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