Quantification of System-wide Life Cycle Benefits of Recycled Materials in Highways

Quantification of the system-wide benefits of recycled material use for the sustainable design and ranking of these sustainable systems is attractive to stakeholders. A study was conducted to evaluate the life-cycle cost benefits of a highway constructed with four different recycled materials. PaLATE, a popular software for life-cycle analysis of pavements, was used to conduct an environmental and economic analysis for highway projects from initial construction to end of the design phase. The analyses indicated that recycled materials replacing part of virgin materials in highway applications have lower life-cycle costs and are more environmentally friendly compared to using only virgin materials. Material production may have the greatest effect compared to transportation and process, consistent with the earlier studies. Some designs with recycled highways yielded comparably low scores due to high energy and/or water consumption, high green-house gas emission, or high hazardous contamination, which can help designers to choose the optimum type and content of materials.

• Record URL:
  http://ntc.umd.edu/sites/default/files/documents/research/NTC2014-SU-R-17%20Ahmet%20H.%20Aydilek.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  http://ntc.umd.edu/node/78
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Center at Maryland

  1124 Glenn Martin Hall
  University of Maryland
  College Park, MD  United States  20742

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Aydilek, Ahmet H
• Publication Date: 2017-11-28

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 105p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Environmental impacts; Highways; Life cycle costing; Recycled materials; Sustainable development
• Subject Areas: Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01665615
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Project ID: NTC2014-SU-R-17
• Files: UTC, TRIS, RITA, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Apr 7 2018 12:19PM