title: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Asphalt Pavement Construction: A Case Study in China.
abstract: In China, the construction of asphalt pavement has a significant impact on the environment, and energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from asphalt pavement construction have been receiving increasing attention in recent years. At present, there is no universal criterion for the evaluation of GHG emissions in asphalt pavement construction. This paper proposes to define the system boundaries for GHG emissions from asphalt pavement by using a process-based life cycle assessment method. A method for evaluating GHG emissions from asphalt pavement construction is suggested. The paper reports a case study of GHG emissions from a typical asphalt pavement construction project in China. The results show that the greenhouse gas emissions from the mixture mixing phase are the highest, and account for about 54% of the total amount. The second highest GHG emission phase is the production of raw materials. For GHG emissions of cement stabilized base/subbase, the production of raw materials emits the most, about 98%. The GHG emission for cement production alone is about 92%. The results indicate that any measures to reduce GHG emissions from asphalt pavement construction should be focused on the raw materials manufacturing stage. If the raw materials production phase is excluded, the measures to reduce GHG emissions should be aimed at the mixture mixing phase.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education , Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, China. mafeng@chd.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education , Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, China. amspaper@126.com.
authors.forename: Aimin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sha
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education , Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, China. ruiyu333@sina.com.
authors.forename: Ruiyu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: School of Civil Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, Peter Jost Enterprise Centre, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK. Y.Huang@ljmu.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education , Chang'an University, Xi'an 710064, China. chaowangchd@126.com.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D002681:China; D003252:Construction Materials / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005740:Gases / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D005740:Gases; D006838:Hydrocarbons; C006647:asphalt
keywords: asphalt pavements; construction process; environmental impacts; greenhouse gas