Thermodynamic Evaluation of Asphalt Concrete Properties and its Mixing Energy Consumption by Exergy Structure

Abstract

The relevance of solving the problem of energy saving, today, is enhanced by the requirements of an environmental nature, united by the term “green energy”. Solving the problems of climate conservation is inseparable from solving the problem of energy saving. Green, hydrogen energy, about which there has been a powerful and aggressive debate over the past decade, turned out to be directions far from solving the problems of both energy saving and environmental protection. The solution of both problems of energy saving and environmental protection at the present time and in the foreseeable future is being solved on the basis of the use of traditional primary energy resources, primarily natural gas. In this regard, the need to solve the problem of quantifying the thermodynamic perfection of heat-technological process for producing an asphalt concrete mixture becomes extremely relevant. This assessment is most simply carried out on the basis of the exergy method of thermodynamic analysis with the determination of the exergy structure of the asphalt concrete mixture flow, including thermomechanical, concentration and reaction components. The value of the concentration component of the exergy of the asphalt concrete mixture allows us to assess the energy efficiency of its production at asphalt concrete plants based on the modern exergy method of thermodynamic analysis; gives a quantitative estimate of the energy consumption for the process of mixing the ingredients of the asphalt concrete mixture in the mixing unit of asphalt concrete plants. The paper defines the structure of the exergy of the asphalt concrete mixture, in which the transit reaction component dominates, which determines the specificity of the exergy of the asphalt concrete mixture. The value of the specific mass concentration component of the exergy of the asphalt concrete mixture in comparison with the thermal component is small and the error in determining the concentration component, which cannot be objectively eliminated, does not affect the results of thermodynamic analysis.