Life Cycle Assessment of Asphalt Pavement Construction in Sabah

Fauziah Mohd Saida, Nurmin Bolongb,*, Lilian Gungatc, Zi Sheng Tangd

aCivil Engineering Programme, Nano Engineering & Materials (NEMs)
Research Group, School of Engineering and Information Technology, Universiti
Malaysia Sabah,
Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu
Sabah, Malaysia
Email: fauziah_mohdsaid@yahoo.com
bCivil

Engineering Programme, Nano Engineering & Materials (NEMs)

Research Group, School of Engineering and Information Technology, Universiti
Malaysia Sabah
Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Email: nurminbolong@gmail.com/ nurmin@ums.edu.my
cCivil

Engineering Programme, School of Engineering and Information

Technology
Universiti Malaysia Sabah
Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Email: lillian@ums.edu.my

dCivil

Engineering Programme, Nano Engineering & Materials (NEMs)

Research Group, School of Engineering and Information Technology, Universiti
Malaysia Sabah
Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu
Sabah, Malaysia
Email: zisheng87@gmail.com

Abstract
Road pavement layered above subgrade plays an important role in road construction
by ensuring a safe surface for traffic, providing waterproofing layer to protect and
improve strength and durability of the road. Social and economic progress of mankind
leads to increased vehicle use. A vast amount of non-exhaust particulate matter
emission emitted to the atmosphere contributing to global climate change.
Unfortunately there is leaking of effort in quantifying emission. To effectively
quantify and assess these emissions, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used.
Pavement Life Cycle Assessment Tool for Environmental and Economic Effects was
used as the LCA model in this paper. Case studies in Lubuk-Buyut and YayasanKibagu road projects were conducted in Sabah have been studied by incorporating
input in terms of design, initial construction, equipment and costs of roadways. It was
found that the energy outputs released were 129,782,562MJ and 112,794,192MJ
respectively for both case studies while non-exhaust particulate matter (PM10)
emissions were estimated 20,933kg and 16,509kg for Lubuk Buyut and Yayasan

Kibagu. The study shows that the transportation and manufacturing impacts of the
materials used in the project specially the manufacturing of the fuel and equipment
used show the significant impact to the environmental results. Therefore, this paper
quantifies and assesses the environmental impact during asphalt pavement
construction using LCA to reduce harmful emissions to the environment and human.
This paper also found that the LCA tools would be beneficial to estimate design life
and construction cost of pavement which can be estimated earlier before road
pavement construction.
Keywords: Life cycle assessment, pavement, asphalt, environment
1. Introduction
Construction of pavement requires obtaining, processing, transporting, manufacturing,
and placement of large amounts of construction materials. Vast amounts of energy and
particulate matter emission are consumed during the pavement construction activities.
Quantification of the non-exhaust particulate matter emission generally, depending on
its physical and chemical properties [7]. Furthermore, available reports do not always
use the same base data and analysis methods, so comparisons between processes
cannot be made [1].
It has also been found out that the impacts from asphalt pavement construction extend
far beyond the extraction and production of pavement materials [6]. The
environmental impacts from asphalt pavement construction can be characterized using
a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. LCA offers a comprehensive methodology
for examining the net environmental performance of products and services across a
suite of environmental metrics that includes all important interactions with human and
natural systems [4].
This study concentrates on the environmental impacts released during the asphalt
pavement construction phase. Furthermore, Life Cycle Assessment was carried out to
quantify and to assess the environmental impact on the asphalt pavement construction
case studies in Sabah, Malaysia.

2. Methodology
2.1 LCA Physical Description for Data Collection
The study was conducted using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify and to
assess the environmental impact of asphalt pavement construction. The asphalt
pavement construction life cycle consist of material extraction, material production,
construction and use phase which each phase consisting of various components. The
use phase includes everything that happens while the pavement is in operation that
can be directly attributed to a pavements properties and characteristics. However, this
study does not include the use phase component of pavement life cycle.
This study was conducted with two case studies related to road project in Sabah,
Malaysia. Data collections were analyzed using LCA approach. Similar as conducted
by Horvath A. [2], this study was lead in two stages namely (1) field work and data
collection and (2) data analysis. Field work and data collection was conducted in site
areas of Yayasan-Kibagu Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and Lubuk-Buyut Kota Marudu,
Sabah road projects. Hence the physical description of the road projects studied in this
paper is described in table 1.
Description

Lubuk-Buyut,
Marudu, Sabah
Project

Length of pavement
4.217 km
Distance from asphalt plant to site
0.5 km
Thickness of sub base (granular base)
350 mm
Thickness of road base (compacted
300 mm
gravel)
50 mm
Thickness of Asphaltic Concrete
50 mm
Wearing
Thickness of Bitumen Prime Coat
Table 1 The Physical Description of Road Projects

Kota YayasanRoad Kibagu, Kota

Kinabalu,
Sabah Road
Project
6 km
1 km
200 mm
250 mm
50 mm
50 mm

2.2 Pavement LCA Model

PaLATE was conducted to quantify the environmental impacts of the asphalt
pavement construction activities. PaLATE quantified twelve different factors
responsible for environmental effects. The factors were energy consumption, water
consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, nitrogen oxides emissions, PM10 (particulate
matter) emissions, sulfur dioxide emissions, carbon monoxide emissions, lead
emissions, mercury emissions, RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)

hazardous waste generation, HTP (Human Toxic Potential) (cancer) and HTP noncancer [3]. Furthermore, PaLATE does not include the impacts from generating the
recycled materials. The physical description (see Table 1) of road projects involved in
this paper was entered into the PaLATE to quantify and to assess the environmental
impacts on asphalt pavement construction activities.
3. Result and Discussion
3.1 Case Study Life Cycle Inventory Results
PaLATE was used to determine the environmental impacts of asphalt pavement
construction activities. The total of each environmental result was comprised of three
components during asphalt pavement construction namely materials production,
materials transportation and processes (equipment). Materials production component
involves extracting aggregates from the quarry and production of Hot Mix Asphalt
(HMA) at HMA plant. Furthermore, component of transportation involves
transportation virgin aggregates and bitumen from the source to the HMA plant and
transporting the HMA mix from the plant to the site. Whereas component of processes
involves equipment used during the asphalt pavement construction.
A summary of the environmental results obtained from PaLATE for each case study
were presented in the tables 2(a) and 2(b) below respectively. Figure 1 shows the
relative contributions of both case studies of the environmental measures. In
comparing the PaLATE results for both case studies (see Figure 1), in almost all
impact categories, Yayasan-Kibagu road project has less of an impact than the LubukBuyut road project. The exception was not shown in the Figure 1 and 2 as Hg and Pb
emissions with negligible difference (less than 1kg). From the results (see Figure 1), it
shows that the increase (~1.49%) in volume of material used during the asphalt
pavement construction has significantly increase the environmental impact. A direct
comparison of the materials is not appropriate without consideration of the life of the
process and economic analysis. A proper comparison would include all actions over
the life of the pavement over a fixed planning horizon. PaLATE also completes this
economic analysis, but that analysis is beyond the scope of this paper.
Figure 2 show the environmental impact during the material transportation phase of
asphalt pavement construction for both case studies. Figure 2 also presents impact
percentage for the case when materials have twice the haul distance, the increase in
transportation has the greatest effect on energy consumption, HTP Non-cancer and
RCRA Hazardous waste. The impact percentages for these factors increase

significantly, indicating an increase in energy consumption, HTP Non-cancer and

RCRA Hazardous waste with the increase in transportation distances (Figure 2).
Similar conclusions were reached by Horvath A. [3] and this study. This increase is
due to potential impacts from aggregate materials transportation. The energy required
for transporting sand and gravel from the sources to the site. The studies by R.
Nathman et al. [5] showed that HTP Non-cancer and RCRA Hazardous waste impacts
due to leaching potential of storage tank and asphalt production which concluded as
same as this study. Production of the asphalt, crushing of materials and transport of
materials are the most energy consuming single life-cycle stages of the construction.
A large part of the emissions to atmosphere originates from energy production.
Furthermore, consumption of natural materials and leaching behavior were also
regarded as being of great significance.

35.77

16.51

213.69

24.90

1,772.20

27.29

1,238.76

41.15

20.93

308.65

28.14

1,989.36

30.69

2,761.82

6.45
45.37

43.05
48.59

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

129,782.56 112,794.19

Environmental Results for Both Case Studies during Asphalt

Pavement Construction

YayasanKibagu
total
LubukBuyut
total

Figure 1 Relative Contributions of Both Case Studies for Each Environmental

Measure in Construction Phase of Life Cycle

1,210.661,686.73

0.987 1.375

462
332

21
15

15
11

48
35

255
183

5
3

11
8

46,035 64,138

100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Environmental Impact during Material Transportation

Phase

Materials
Transportation
(YayasanKibagu)
Materials
Transportation
(Lubuk-Buyut)

Figure 2 Environmental Impact during Material Transportation Phase for

Asphalt Pavement Construction
PaLATE reports environmental effects disaggregated by initial construction and by
material production, transport and processing phases of asphalt pavement construction
(see Table 2(a) and 2(b)). Nevertheless from table 2(a) and 2(b), it can be seen that
material production shows the most environmental effects. It was also observed that
transportation distances and processing have less contribution to total environmental
effects compared to material production. Therefore, according to PaLATE, the amount
of bitumen used was the determining the factor in the amount emissions and
environmental suitability. Emissions during bitumen production determine the
environmental effects and PaLATE includes them in calculation of total emissions. It
was also observed that the amount of bitumen is the major factor whereby, project
locations and transportation distances are minor factors in determining environmental
effects.

Initial
Construction

Energy
[MJ]

Water
CO2 NOx
Consumption [kg]
[kg]
[kg]
=
GWP

PM10
[kg]

SO2
[kg]

Materials
129,234,906 48,537
7,368 40,171 20,804 308,573
Production
Materials
8
3
183
35
11
Transportation 46,035
Processes
501,620
49
38
796
94
67
(Equipment)
Table 2(a) Environmental Results for Lubuk-Buyut Road Project
Initial
Energy
Water
CO2
NOx
PM10 SO2
Construction
[MJ]
Consumption [kg]
[kg]
[kg]
[kg]
[kg]
=
GWP
112,325,519 43,004
6,414 34,871 16,385 213,621
Materials
Production
64,138
11
5
255
48
15
Materials
Transportation
404,534
39
30
644
76
52
Processes
(Equipment)
Table 2(b) Environmental Results for Yayasan Kibagu Road Project

CO
[kg]

Hg
[kg]

Pb
[kg]

RCRA
Hazard
Waste
Gen [kg]

HTP
(Cancer)
[kg]

HTP (Noncancer) [kg]

27,949 0.197 9.483

1,985,416

30,692.049 2,760,606.560

15

0.002

332

0.987

1,210.658

176

0.017

3,614

CO
[kg]

Hg
[kg]

Pb
[kg]

RCRA
Hazard
Waste
Gen [kg]
24,736 0.176 8.417 1,768,827

HTP
(Cancer)
[kg]

HTP (Noncancer) [kg]

21

0.002 462

1.375

1,686.729

142

0.014 2,915

27,285.003 1,237,074.001

4. Conclusion
The results of both case studies indicate that the production of the materials used in asphalt
pavement construction produce the most significant environmental burdens. This paper has
provides an analysis methodology and assessment on the asphalt pavement construction
specifically at Sabah, Malaysia. The methodology integrates pavement design from the field
and concepts of LCA providing a framework which may be beneficial for future policy
assessments. These methods can be used to assess the pavement design under various policies
maker to reveal the unintended environmental impacts to be significant concern.
5. References
[1]
Chehovits, J., & Galehouse, L. (2009). PA P E R 6 5 Energy Usage and Greenhouse
Gas Emissions of Pavement Preservation Processes for Asphalt Concrete Pavements, 2742.
[2]
Horvath, A. (2003). Life-Cycle Environmental and Economic Assessment of Using
Recycled Materials for Asphalt Pavements. California.
[3]
Horvath, A. (2004). A Life-Cycle Analysis Model and Decision-Support Tool for
Selecting Recycled Versus Virgin Materials for Highway Applications. Final Report for
RMRC Research Project No.23 (No. Final Report for RMRC Research Project) (pp. 135).
California.
[4]
ISO. (2006). Environmental Management - Life cycle assessment - Principles and
framework. Geneva Switzerland, Geneva: International Organization for Standardization.
ISO 14040:2006(E).
[5]
Nathman, R., McNeil, S., & Van Dam, T. J. (2009). Integrating Environmental
Perspectives into Pavement Management: Adding the Pavement Life-Cycle Assessment Tool
for Environmental and Economic Effects to the Decision-Making Toolbox. Transportation
Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2093(-1), 4049.
doi:10.3141/2093-05
[6]
Santero, N. J., & Horvath, A. (2009). Global warming potential of pavements.
Environmental Research Letters, 4(3), 034011. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/4/3/034011
[7]
Thorpe, A., & Harrison, R. M. (2008). Sources and properties of non-exhaust
particulate matter from road traffic: A review. Science of The Total Environment, 270282.
Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896970800658X