History Of Asphalt And Asphalt Plant

ASPHALT PLANT

The word asphalt is believed to derive from the prehistoric Akkadian term “asphaltic”. The term was adopted by the Homeric Greeks to mean tightening or fixing. Asphalt is a construction material that has been known for more than 5000 years and has proven itself in this time. The first asphalt applications in Turkey started in the Ottoman period and the French were supported in the construction of the coatings.

    In the Republican era, asphalt pavement construction, which started in 1929, was expanded in 1948 with the assistance of Marshall Technical from the USA, and a period of continuous development began with the establishment of the General Directorate of Highways-KGM in 1950.

    The general purpose of asphalt plants; It is the production of hot bituminous mixtures used on high standard roads with care, quality and high performance at high capacity.

    Basically, asphalt plants are divided into two as batch type and continuous type.

    The production method of batch type asphalt plants is that after the aggregate fed with the under-bunker collection band is dried, unlike the continuous type, it is directed to the sieves by the hot aggregate elevator and the aggregate separated according to its dimensions is mixed with the bituminous binder in the mixer.

    When we look at the history of batch asphalt type, drying, screening, proportioning and mixing first came together in a plant in 1870. Although these plants don’t comply with today’s standards, they formed the basis of the plant. At the beginning of the 20th century, bunkers and cold elevators were added and the plant continued to develop. In the early 1930s, the plants started to produce between 800 and 1000 tons. The feeding system was obtained with the addition of the conveyor system in the 1940s. In the 1950s, the size of the dryer was enlarged and the automatic weighing system began to be used, and it became the most advanced up to that time. In the 1970s, the automatic control system continued to develop with technology by connecting to the computer.

    The production method of the continuous type asphalt plants is the mixing of the aggregate fed proportionally with the collection band under the bunker with the bituminous binder in the dryer/mixer and the production continues uninterrupted.

    The history of continuous (continuous) type asphalt plants was started in the 1910s for the hot mix production of drum mixers. Until the mid-1930s, more than 100 drum mixers were produced and used in the world. Drum mixers were developed in the 1960s. In the 1970s, drum mixers became very popular due to their portability. In the 1990s the mixing and heating process was developed with new configurations. In addition, methods of adding recycled material to the mixture have been added. Finally, it has taken its current form by providing faster feeding of the aggregate with the computer-controlled weighing system