Electric Heat: Set It and Forget It

Four years ago, a fast-growing county in the Midwest was presented with an opportunity to improve the asphalt emulsion heating process for its oil distributor truck. With 2,400 shared highway lane miles to maintain (including 700 lane miles under its sole infrastructure/asset responsibility), this county operates a proactive highway maintenance program that works to ensure its efforts make the best use of annual budget money. The maintenance team is knowledgeable and forward-thinking about the products it uses, and one product it fully believes in is asphalt emulsion for tack spraying, chip seal, and spray patching.

As opposed to liquid asphalt cement, emulsions comprise a non-flammable mixture of asphalt, water and emulsifying agents. Emulsions have lower viscosity, can be used at lower temperatures and provide better spreading characteristics than asphalt. According to the maintenance foreman for the county’s highway department, “Asphalt emulsions are more sensitive to heat than straight liquid asphalt. They need to be gently brought up to and then maintained at the correct temperature in order to work properly. They’re trickier to work with, but when used correctly, they really are superior for tack coating and spray patching applications than straight asphalt.”

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