Evaluation of Asphalt Pavement Production and Construction Processes to Determine Impact Category Based on Life Cycle Inventory
PURPOSES : In this study, emissions from asphalt mixture production and construction processes are calculated and used to estimate the emission from each asphalt pavement layer. The calculated emissions for the processes are used as fundamental data to estimate the total emission from the entire life cycle of pavement engineering in South Korea.
METHODS : A design proposal and the Korean standard, which provide quantitative information for activities, were used to estimate the amount of construction materials and energy consumption. Subsequently, the LCI DB from NAPA and the LCIA DB from EPA were utilized in conjunction with the estimated quantity to assess the effect of the emissions to determine their environmental impact categories.
RESULTS : Calculation results show that 5.84 million ton of CO2eq is discharged from production and construction processes, whereas 3.24 million ton of CO2eq is discharged from operation processes in the pavement engineering sector. The total GHG emission, i.e., 9.08 million ton of CO2eq, is approximately 1.25% of the national GHG emission in 2018. The asphalt mixture production process results in the highest GHG emission in the life cycle of asphalt pavements.
CONCLUSIONS : An LCI DB that accounts for the industrial characteristics of South Korea must be established to provide more reliable emission data to be used for national GHG reduction plans, including those for the pavement engineering sector.