Asphalt covers a large portion of the United States, yet most Americans have no clue where asphalt comes from. The simple answer is that asphalt comes from asphalt plants. However, what does that really mean? How do asphalt plants work? This week, we begin exploring how exactly asphalt plants function.
Types Of Asphalt Plants
There are two primary types of asphalt plants, batch and drum. Both types of plants have their advantages and their drawbacks that make them better suited to certain types of projects.
Batch Plants: The Custom Experience
Batch plants, also known as a discontinuous tower plants, produce asphalt in made-to-order batches. The batches, because they are produced as needed, go directly to a work site
The Advantages
- High Quality Product. The batches are made exactly to the specifications of the project, so it always suits exactly what the contractor wants. Additionally, the made-to-order nature of the batches ensures that quality control is solidly in place.
- Batch plants have the ability to conform to different situations. Not only can they vary batch size and production capacity, they can actually change “recipes”. The increased flexibility is actually highly environmentally friendly. While asphalt is recyclable, not all of it is eligible for the process. Making exact batches leads to less waste and higher energy efficiency during production.
Drum Plants: Mass Production Is King
Drum plants consistently prepare asphalt and use warming silos to store the material before shipping it to the job site. There are actually two different types of drum plants.
Parallel Flow
First, there is the parallel flow drum mix plant. In a parallel flow drum mixer, the bitumen and aggregate move through the heating process together.
Counter Flow
On the other hand, is the counter flow drum plants. For the counter flow drum, the aggregate moves against the burner flame. The aggregate only passes through the bitumen mixing zone after it is heated. This prevented the flame from coming into direct contact with the bitumen.
Double Barrel
Finally, in a double barrel, the aggregate originally flows through an outer shell. Then, it ultimately flows through the heat in the inner shell and mixes with the bitumen.
The Advantages
- Constant availability. Due to the fact that drum plants are producing and reheating aggregate constantly, it is highly available. This availability is extremely useful in situations where there is short notice.
- High rate of production. Drum plants produce as much asphalt as 600 to 800 tons an hour. Just to put that in proportion, that is weight is at least equivalent to 85 to 115 African elephants. African elephants are the largest of all land animals. During an average workday, drum plants potentially produce enough asphalt to balance the scales of 800 elephants.
Come Back Next Week
For more information about asphalt plants.