ULTILOW
Sustainable, warm mix low temperature asphalt
ULTILOW is a range of warm mix asphalts for more sustainable road surfacing.
ULTILOW warm mix asphalts are manufactured and supplied at lower temperatures than conventional hot mix asphalts. As a result they offer significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions of up to 15% and typically around 8-10%. They also deliver a range of site safety and productivity benefits and no compromise on performance
ULTILOW technology is the latest example of our commitment to using technical expertise to create more sustainable paving materials. Responding to the challenges faced by modern paving engineers, it is designed to help them complete more work in less time, keep busy roads moving and meet the highest standards of safety and sustainability.
In July 2019 warm mix asphalts were included in the Specification for Highway Works and in August 2021 National Highways officially requested that everyone involved in the construction and maintenance of the strategic road network, particularly designers and main contractors, use warm mix asphalts as their default surfacing material to help move towards its net zero objective.
We recently announced another significant commitment to reducing both our own and our customers’ carbon footprint. We will now be supplying only ULTILOW warm mix asphalts for delivered base and binder courses and all surface course materials except for modified binder materials and HRA with a stone content mix of 35% or lower. This is expected to save around 21,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year – the equivalent of around 34,000 flights between London and New York.
Where can ULTILOW be used?
Lower carbon roads
With a typical 8-10% reduction in carbon emissions during production ULTILOW warm mix asphalts offer a more sustainable choice of road surface.
More sustainable highways maintenance
With the increasing focus on climate change and environmental impact, ULTILOW warm mix asphalts allow highways engineers to respond to demands for lower carbon road surfacing.
Enabling gains in productivity
ULTILOW asphalts are supplied at lower temperatures so they are quicker to reach trafficking temperatures. This enables shorter programme times or more paving to be completed and still reopened to traffic on schedule.
Why use ULTILOW?
Additional info
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Highways issued a report in September 2019 that identified warm mix asphalts (WMA) as an under exploited opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions associated with asphalt production on highways projects.
However, there is still a lot of progress to be made, according to the report WMAs represent less than 6% of UK asphalt production compared to almost 50% of asphalt volumes in the US and more than 15% in France.
Warm mix asphalts support C02 savings of up to 15%. Typical savings are in the region of 8-10% and there is no compromise on performance. Using the figures from the report; if all asphalt production in Great Britain in 2017 had been switched to WMA, it would have saved at least 61,000 tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent of cutting almost 300 million miles of car journeys.
After experiencing the benefits of ULTILOW warm mix asphalts for themselves, many clients and partners are now choosing them as their default solution. This allows plants to produce warm mix asphalts only which helps to optimise efficiency and minimise carbon emissions during production.
ULTILOW is one of the many innovative asphalt solutions available from Tarmac.
ULTILOW warm mix asphalt technology is now available across a wide range of standard asphalt mixes and Tarmac Ultimate asphalts, including:
- RUBBER MODIFIED ASPHALT
- ULTIPAVE R
- ULTIPAVE
- ULTIFLEX
- ULTIPAVE SINGLE LAYER
- ULTILAYER
- ULTIFASTPAVE
What is low temperature asphalt?
Low temperature asphalt is supplied at temperatures typically 40°C lower than a hot equivalent. Low temperature or warm mix asphalts from Tarmac reach appropriate trafficking temperatures circa 90 minutes quicker than hot asphalt for earlier reopening of carriageways. This feature is particularly valuable when thick or dual construction layers are necessary. Low temperature asphalt is specially formulated for use on highways and road infrastructure. Proven in schemes across the UK, low temperature asphalt is available across most asphalt mixes.
Does low temperature asphalt improve sustainability performance in road surfacing?
Using less energy in manufacture, low temperature asphalts reduce the embodied carbon footprint by up to 12%. (Assuming an average reduction of 10%, Tarmac low temperature asphalt installed across the UK (March 2021) has resulted in the saving of 16,260 tonnes of CO2e.
Watch our expert panel at Highways UK Online 2020 discussing the benefits of using warm mix asphalt products.
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