Environmental comparison of cutback bitumen and bitumen emulsions for sealing roads

This paper describes a recent environmental research project that compared the environmental impacts of bitumen emulsion to cutback bitumen, based on Fulton Hogan production and usage data. In addition to the health and safety, and technical benefits of bitumen emulsions, the research project found that: 1. Greenhouse gas emissions from the use of cutback bitumen are significantly higher than for bitumen emulsions due to the large amount of fossil fuels used for heating cutback bitumen and through the evaporation of kerosene from cutback bitumen chipseals; 2. The increased transportation emissions associated with bitumen emulsion are not significant when compared with the production and heating emissions for Fulton Hogan�s chipsealing operations; 3. Replacing cutbacks bitumen with bitumen emulsions would reduce the amount of CO2 produced from sealing operations by almost two thirds; 4. Replacing cutbacks with emulsions would also reduce production of photochemical smog generating VOC emissions to atmosphere. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E212706.