Pavement Recycling
Miller Paving Limited has been a pioneer of in-place recycling since 1983. We were the first contractor to introduce a full-depth reclamation machine in Canada.
We have remained a key player in offering modern recycling technologies such as Cold In-Place Recycling (CIR), Cold In-Place Recycling with Expanded Asphalt Material (CIREAM), Full Depth Reclamation (FDR), and Full Depth Reclamation with Base Stabilization to public and private sectors.
In an era where asset-owners determine pavement rehabilitation techniques based on cost, performance, and environmental sustainability, in-situ recycling processes offer the best alternative to optimize these benefits. With strict attention paid to pre-engineering, mix design formulation, construction, and quality control, pavements constructed using these techniques offer owners the ability to decrease life-cycle costs while decreasing the environmental impact.
Many projects performed within the first ten years of in-place recycling existence in Canada are still in service today proving that these technologies perform as expected. Due to the success of in-place recycling, these methods have been adopted in rural, urban, and highway applications with various traffic volumes. The structural design methods used in Ontario have now been modified to account for the significant strength gain achieved when implementing recycling processes. As the industry gains more experience, these numbers will be updated to reflect current knowledge of the strength behaviour of these mixes.
To find out more about these technologies, click any of the links below to see detailed information or contact us to obtain more detailed information pertaining to recycling process for your application.
Base Stabilization is an effective pavement rehabilitation technique that provides public and private sectors with a strong, durable base capable of withstanding a wide range of traffic loads.
This creates an improved homogeneous material which utilizes the entire thickness of the existing bituminous layer and a portion of the underlying granular materials thereby reducing material transportation costs and construction durations. This technique may be successfully utilized in urban, rural, and freeway applications.
A wide range of pavement distresses including longitudinal and transverse cracking, rutting, distortions, and raveling may be treated by various stabilization techniques to improve the ride quality and provide a structural improvement to the roadway. Stabilizing agents typically used across North America include foamed asphalt cement, emulsion, lime, Portland cement, fly ash, and liquid chloride. The subsequent recycled material must be covered with chip seal or hot mix asphalt.
A geotechnical analysis of the potential candidate should be performed to determine the appropriate stabilization methods to be used considering forecast traffic loads, life cycle, and climate.
Base Stabilization is very attractive to asset owners due to the lower life-cycle costs, low environmental impact, overall performance, and ease of construction.
Cold In-Place Recycling (CIR) is a pavement rehabilitation technique that reduces the life cycle cost of the pavement structure by reusing the existing asphalt pavement.
This process generally uses 100% Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) mixed with a new binder which may be either emulsion or foamed asphalt cement. The cold nature of the process reduces the impact on the environment and preserves energy due to the absence of heat application.
CIR may be considered wherever cracking, permanent deformation and/or loss of integrity in the existing bituminous pavement occur. Structurally sound and well-drained pavements are the most suitable candidates.
When the pavement is distorted, corrective operations may be required prior to the CIR process which include road profiling and/or the addition of corrective aggregate. The addition of a corrective aggregate may be required to modify the gradation or to improve the strength of the recycled material when rutting, shoving, and flushing exists.
Regardless of whether emulsion or foamed asphalt cement is utilized as the binder, Portland cement may be utilized to achieve rapid curing of the recycled material. This rapid curing allows the roadway to remain unaffected by traffic prior to being overlaid with Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) or a Seal Coat.
CIR is considered the most effective process to mitigate reflective cracking in a cold climate and is widely utilized as a cost effective rehabilitation alternative to traditional reconstruction methods due to its comparatively low cost, higher life cycle and ease of construction.
Cold Milling is the controlled removal of an asphalt or concrete surface at either a partial or full-depth application. When milling partial depth, the resulting textured pavement can be used immediately as a driving surface.
Milling machines are self-propelled and of sufficient size to provide the traction and stability required to remove the pavement surface. Equipped with automatic grade control systems, surfaces can be milled to specified elevations, profiles and cross-slopes.
The Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) generated during the Cold Milling operation is loaded onto haul trucks via the conveyor system and transported off site. The RAP can then be further recycled through Central Cold Mix and Hot Mix Plants or used to correct profile deficiencies by placing the material on existing granular or bituminous surfaces.
Cold Milling has become commonplace in construction and is now the preferred method of removing and reclaiming pavements. Cold Milling machines are available in a variety of sizes from half metre mahines, to half lane and full lane milling machines to accurately remove pavements to suit individual requirements.
Full Depth Reclamation (FDR), often known as pulverizing, is a rehabilitation technique in which the full thickness of the asphalt pavement and a predetermined portion of the underlying materials is uniformly pulverized and blended to provide a stronger, homogeneous material.
The quality of the existing materials will dictate the strength of the resultant pulverized material which in some cases, may not be sufficient to support traffic loads and volumes. If the existing road materials will not provide adequate strength after FDR, virgin aggregate, recycled aggregate, reclaimed asphalt pavement, or crushed concrete may be added.
The FDR process removes the existing asphalt pavement cracks and deterioration since the entire asphalt layer is pulverized to produce an improved, homogeneous granular material on which a new pavement structure can be placed immediately upon completion. Pavements composed of distorted subgrades are only candidates for FDR when additional work is undertaken to correct drainage and subgrade deficiencies.
Reclaiming machines are very mobile and maneuverable to process a wide range of road geometries including urban environments. FDR provides asset owners with a cost effective means of rehabilitating roads due to its versatility, energy savings and reduced natural resource requirement.
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