Cold Recycler
Roads or pavement will, after years of use, start wearing off due to wear and tear. As the friction resistance of the concrete or asphalt layers becomes weak, cracks, potholes, and other defects will start showing. That’s when maintenance of the surface becomes necessary. There are many ways that you can have the pavement or road restored, but Cold Recycler is one of the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
Cold Recyclern or Cold-in-Place is the process of maintaining an old and loose pavement surface. The process involves milling and crushing the old pavement structural layer .i.e., the surface layer and part of the base layer. Unlike the other pavement maintenance process that uses new materials for the restoration of the old pavement, cold recycling uses the same materials from the old pavement. However, a few new materials, such as binding agents, are added to improve the quality of the new pavement.
As the name suggests, cold recycling is done at room temperature. Therefore, there is no heating of the material for the entire regeneration. The recycling of old materials and operating at normal temperatures promotes environmental conservation. That’s because less energy is needed to mine new materials and to heat up construction materials.
Cold recycling uses cold recyclers as the main piece of equipment. These are machines designed to mill and ground concrete and asphalt surfaces. The machine is designed with a rotating drum, which is fitted with sharp milling bits and teeth. These are the cutter tools that do the actual cutting of the pavement surface. When the drum starts rotating as the cold recycler moves, the cutter tools will be milling and grinding the old surface.
There are two main types of cold regeneration: in-situ and in-plant. For the in-situ type, the cold recycler mills and crush the existing pavement material into granule size. The machine also mixes the granulated material homogeneously with the binding agents and water at the same time. So, in just a single pass, the cold recycler will have broken down the old layer and produce construction material for the new pavement. Cold recyclers come with a powerful milling and mixing rotor that enables them to do all this at once.
For the cold recycling in-plant, the old pavement layer is first removed using the cold milling machine and then taken to the mixing plant. In most cases, the mixing plant is brought to the site to save time and the transport cost. Once the material is treated, it is taken back to the site for restoration of the pavement. Both cases take a short time to finish road restoration compared to most of the alternative methods.
For old and damaged pavement, Cold Recycling is one of the best restoration methods. It is cost-effective since the materials that you need to restore a quality pavement or road is significantly reduced by recycling. Apart from cost, it is environment friendly because of less mining and less energy since no heating is needed.
However, you must have the right cold recycler for the restoration work. You also need to check the grade of the road, traffic, and climate when restoring the road. These are factors that will determine the kind of cold regeneration you need to do.