“Work on the Reclaimed Asphalt Granulator (RAG, pol. GDA) was actually started at the request of our customers, who often asked for such a device,” says the President of PROJPRZEM MAKRUM S.A. Piotr Szczeblewski. This modern machine may prove to be the ideal solution to the problems of reusing the reclaimed asphalt, which have been expressed loud and clear in the road construction industry recently.
At MAKRUM, the idea of creating the device was born much earlier than the construction work began. The first stage was a thorough market investigation, which lasted almost six months. Its analysis led to two main conclusions. Firstly, a gradual upward trend in the share of granulate in the creation of new bituminous mixtures could be observed. Secondly, there was the lack of a specialist machine for shredding asphalt waste, which the crushers could not handle. “We knew that we had to construct a device that would not crush minerals, but would separate them,” says Dariusz Modrzyński, the Chief Designer at MAKRUM. “The second challenge faced by our team was to keep the machine running smoothly. In crushers, the binder very often becomes sticky and sticks to the machine due to the high temperature, which causes unwanted downtime,” he adds.
The concept of the creation of the Reclaimed Asphalt Granulator is also a response to the need to search for ecological solutions in every area of our lives. If we take so much care not to use plastic bags when not needed, to reuse various materials or produce ecological packaging, it seems natural to implement similar solutions in the road construction industry. This is all the more true if we realise the scale of the problem. On the one hand, a huge amount of investments significantly improves and develops the infrastructure, which translates into a higher comfort of our life, travelling or daily commuting from place to place. On the other hand, aggregate resources are shrinking at an alarming rate. Recycling, which is present in many other areas of human activity, can be the answer. Recycling in road construction also means broadly-defined state policy, as well as individual regulations or technical standards regulating the reuse of materials.
GDA is not only an ecological solution, but also an economical one. The storage of reclaimed asphalt involves certain costs that can be avoided by reusing it. The cost of producing the mineral-asphalt mixture itself is also significantly reduced. By adding reclaimed asphalt into it, we can see the savings already at the beginning of the project. The GDA itself is also economical to use and can be used at any temperature.
The obtaining of reclaimed asphalt is possible in two ways: by milling or by demolition using excavators or hammers. The key in the process of obtaining the granulate is proper processing of the material. The Reclaimed Asphalt Granulator is available in different versions, depending on the specific production needs: starting with the machine alone, through the set with the mobile frame, the charging hopper and the conveyor belt as well as the charging hopper and screen variant. “GDA makes it possible to obtain granules with parameters enabling its reuse in larger quantities than those of other crushing machines used. What is important, it does not destroy the original aggregate grains,” says Jacek Korzeniewski, Head of the Construction Department.
This is confirmed by the test results with reference to the standard PN-EN 13108-8:2016-07: granulation to the desired fraction takes place with a minimum degree of grinding of the primary aggregate. A trace increase in the dust fraction can also be observed.
“Poland is slowly approaching the completion of the process of large investments executed over the years: construction of motorways and expressways,” says the President of PROJPRZEM MAKRUM S.A. Piotr Szczeblewski. “However, another important step lies ahead of us: the replacement of the surface of communal and poviat roads. We believe that GDA can make this process easier and more efficient,” he adds.
The innovative Reclaimed Asphalt Granulator (GDA) was delivered by MAKRUM to PBI WMB Sp. z o.o., a company operating in the Podkarpackie, Lubelskie and Świętokrzyskie Voivodships, managed by the Infrastructure Director of the Bituminous Masses Production Plant Błażej Haręza.
“We produce mineral-asphalt mixtures for the road construction industry. We were one of the first customers to purchase the GDA,” says Błażej Haręza. “The machine has been personalized according to my specific technological guidelines and requirements. Most importantly, GDA allows to obtain a homogeneous material. Its purchase turned out to be such a spot-on investment that the Management Board of PBI WMB Sp. z o.o. gave its consent to the purchase of another one. And I think that it will not end with just two,” he adds.
