Technologies - Colas Technológia

Technologies

RUGOSOFT – WHISPERING ASPHALT

How can an asphalt pavement be safe and silent at the same time?

Beyond environmental considerations, expectations of road users and of the general public are to be taken into account, which gave rise to the logical requirement that the road pavement must be flawless in terms of both traffic safety and noise emission. Being a global leader in road construction, the Colas Group possesses asphalt technologies that fulfil both expectations at the same time.

Rugosoft is a thin-layer, so-called BBTM asphalt that complies with all European standards. In addition to its favourable acoustic characteristics, it has excellent and long-lasting anti-skid properties, and its surface is also pleasing to the eye with its smoothness.

A combination of mid-high void content and advantageous surface texture enable Rugosoft to absorb tyre noise efficiently. The macro-roughness of the asphalt mixture has a profound effect on the noises generated by rolling tyres. The special void structure of Rugosoft allows the pavement to absorb rolling noises above 50 kph much more effectively than conventional asphalts, thus reducing noise pollution to the environment.

With the Rugosoft asphalt pavement, operation- and maintenance-related difficulties typical to porous asphalt mixtures are avoided, and it does not require special maintenance in the winter period, as its void structure is not continuous.

The noise-reducing Rugosoft BBTM wearing course complies with the requirements of Hungarian road technical specification UT 2-3.301-2, thus it can be installed based on both the European and Hungarian standards.

In 2008, 3 centimetres of noise-reducing Rugosoft wearing course was installed on a 10-kilometre-long section of the M5 motorway. The requirement set by road operator AKA Zrt. was a very strict 76 dB. Notably, the reference noise measurement as per the MSZ EN ISO 11819-1 standard (SPBI index, vehicle category 1, 110 kph reference speed) resulted in 83 dB on a conventional pavement. The result on the Rugosoft pavement was 73 dB.

In the spring of 2010, Rugosoft trial sections were constructed on main road 38 at Bodrogkeresztúr and the M3 motorway with the approval of the respective road operators.

Further to the French SETRA certificate, the excellent properties and performance was recognised internationally: Rugosoft received the “Construction Methods” award from the International Road Federation.

Technology Directorate
1032 Budapest, Bécsi út 174/C
Tel.: +36 1 883 1070
Fax: +36 1 883 1078
technologia@colas.hu

VALORCOL – RECYCLED COLD ASPHALT

The recycling of reclaimed materials is a fundamental economic and environmental necessity, especially if the recycling technology is also eco-friendly.

Cold, in-plant asphalt recycling is gaining popularity throughout Europe – the procedure, named VALORCOL, has been developed by the Colas Group in Switzerland.

The mixture is produced with 80-100% milled-up asphalt, bitumen emulsion and the addition of cement or other fillers. In Hungary, the mixture can be manufactured at 10 mixing sites of the Group.

The slow-setting bitumen emulsion used for preparing the mixture is provided by our plant in Gyöngyös.

Valorcol cold recycling trial mixing and trial installation in Hungary was first carried out in 2009. The 300 tonnes of material was installed in a thickness of 6 cm as binding course for a low-traffic public road section. Mixing was performed with a Wirtgen KMA 150 mobile mixing plant.

Based on experiences from designing, production and installation, the application of the cold mixture is mainly recommended as base course or binding course to be followed by a layer of surface coating or a thin layer of asphalt.

With the help of the Eco-Software available at the Group, the energy requirement and carbon-dioxide emission of the alternative solutions can be compared. Considering the environment, the Valorcol technology represents the most favourable option, while offering a cheap and efficient way of renovating B-roads.

Technology Directorate
1032 Budapest, Bécsi út 174/C
Tel.: +36 1 883 1070
Fax: +36 1 883 1078
technologia@colas.hu

WMA

Optimising the use of natural resources and cutting energy consumption are the keys of sustainable development.

The question is given, and comes up increasingly often worldwide: how is it possible to save energy with regard to production procedures – including the production and installation of asphalt – and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. At the moment, asphalt mixtures in Hungary are generally manufactured at temperatures of 180-200 °C,

The production of 1 cubic metre requires approximately 100 KJ of energy, while at least 150 g of carbon-monoxide is released into the air.

Owing to a special, licensed additive developed by the Colas Group, asphalt can be manufactured at lower temperatures. Quality remains identical with conventional hotmix, but both the required energy and the released carbon-dioxide are cut by 30%.

For producing warm-mix asphalt in the mixing plants of the Colas Group, bitumen is enriched with an additive named CWM (Hungarian ÉME license number: 18/2010).

As a first trial, the warm-mix asphalt was installed with modified Bituclair binder as red-coloured pavement in the bicycle lanes of Alkotmány Street, Budapest. Through the application of the CWM additive, the mixing and installation temperature of the asphalt could be reduced by 25-30 °C in contrast with conventional techniques.

Further low-temperature asphalts have been installed on local roads at Dabas, Újhartyán and Gödöllő, as well as on the national public roads of Southern Hungary. On average, the production temperature of asphalt mixtures was 40 °C lower than normal manufacturing temperatures, which leads to significant energy savings. Trial installations proved that the mixture is easy to compact, and can be installed without any problems at lower temperatures.

As for motorways, the first LT-section was built at chainage 135 km of the M3. For paving 700 metres on the LHS hard shoulder, we used AC 11 wearing course asphalt with PmB-A 25/55-65 bitumen mixed by our Felsőzsolca plant at a temperature of 130 °C.

When it comes to various European tenders, the energy requirement and CO2 emission of alternative proposals is becoming an increasingly important factor. With the Eco-Software available at Colas, we can calculate the energy use for building pavements (MJ/m2), similarly to the emission of greenhouse gases in CO2 equivalent (kg/m2). This way, the original solutions and the alternatives proposed with LT-asphalts become instantly comparable.

Technology Directorate
1032 Budapest, Bécsi út 174/C
Tel.: +36 1 883 1070
Fax: +36 1 883 1078
technologia@colas.hu

Colas Hungária