4th Annual Asphalt Pavement Industry Survey on Recycled Materials and Warm-Mix Asphalt Usage

The FHWA/NAPA industry survey first began in 2010, and was repeated in 2011 and 2012. In order to continue to track the use of these technologies, FHWA again partnered with NAPA to conduct a similar survey of RAP, RAS, and WMA use for 2013. This report documents the results of the 2013 industry survey, including the survey methodology, results, trends, and changes from 2009 through 2013.

Highlight features & benefits

• Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement: The amount of RAP used in asphalt mixtures was 67.8 million tons in 2013, a 21 percent increase over the
  tons used in 2009 (56 million tons). This is a 1 percent decrease over the tons used in 2012 (68.3 million tons). However, total asphalt tonnage was down from 2012 to 2013, so in term of percent of total tonnage there was a 2 percent increase in the use of RAP from 2012 to 2013. Assuming 5 percent liquid asphalt in RAP, this represents over 3.4 million tons (19 million barrels) of asphalt binder conserved.
  Reclaimed Asphalt Shingles: Use of both manufacturers’ scrap and post-consumer shingles decreased from nearly 1.9 million tons in 2012 to more than 1.6 million tons in 2013, an 11.6 percent decrease. Assuming a conservative asphalt content of 20
  percent for the RAS that may be used to replace virgin binder, this represents 320,000 tons (1.7 million barrels) of asphalt binder conserved.
• Warm-Mix Asphalt Technologies: Total tonnage of WMA is estimated at 106.4 million tons in 2013. This is nearly a 23 percent increase over 2012 WMA tonnage (86.7 million tons). As of 2013, WMA is now over 30 percent of the total asphalt mixture market. Plant foaming is used most often in producing WMA, with more than 87 percent of the market; additives accounted for about 13 percent of the market.