Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jun 24;13(7):632.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph13070632.

The Greenhouse Gas Emission from Portland Cement Concrete Pavement Construction in China

Feng Ma  1 , Aimin Sha  2 , Panpan Yang  3 , Yue Huang  4
Affiliations

The Greenhouse Gas Emission from Portland Cement Concrete Pavement Construction in China

Feng Ma et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

This study proposes an inventory analysis method to evaluate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Portland cement concrete pavement construction, based on a case project in the west of China. The concrete pavement construction process was divided into three phases, namely raw material production, concrete manufacture and pavement onsite construction. The GHG emissions of the three phases are analyzed by a life cycle inventory method. The CO₂e is used to indicate the GHG emissions. The results show that for 1 km Portland cement concrete pavement construction, the total CO₂e is 8215.31 tons. Based on the evaluation results, the CO₂e of the raw material production phase is 7617.27 tons, accounting for 92.7% of the total GHG emissions; the CO₂e of the concrete manufacture phase is 598,033.10 kg, accounting for 7.2% of the total GHG emissions. Lastly, the CO₂e of the pavement onsite construction phase is 8396.59 kg, accounting for only 0.1% of the total GHG emissions. The main greenhouse gas is CO₂ in each phase, which accounts for more than 98% of total emissions. N₂O and CH₄ emissions are relatively insignificant.

Keywords: Portland cement concrete pavement; construction process; greenhouse gas (GHG); highway engineering.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
System boundary of PCC pavement construction assessment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic diagram of the concrete pavement structure.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The GHG emissions for the PCC pavement construction process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zapata P., Gambatese J.A. Energy consumption of asphalt and reinforced concrete pavement materials and construction. J. Infrastr. Syst. 2005;11:9–20. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)1076-0342(2005)11:1(9). - DOI
    1. Stripple H. A Pilot Study for Inventory Analysis. Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL); Gothenburg, Sweden: 2001. Life cycle analysis of road.
    1. Athena I. A Life Cycle Perspective on Concrete and Asphalt Roadways: Embodied Primary Energy and Global Warming Potential. Cement Association of Ottawa; Ottawa, ON, Canada: 2006.
    1. Huang Y., Bird R.N., Heidrich O. A review of the use of recycled solid waste materials in asphalt pavements. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 2007;52:58–73. doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2007.02.002. - DOI
    1. Huang Y., Bird R.N., Heidrich O. Development of a life cycle assessment tool for construction and maintenance of asphalt pavements. J. Clean. Prod. 2009;17:283–296. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.06.005. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources