INTRODUCTION

Asphalt is one of the world's oldest engineering materials, having been used since
the beginning of civilization. Asphalt is a heavy mineral material that can be found with
colour from range of dark brown to black. The substance of asphalt contains a mixture of
hydrocarbons called bitumens. The variations used and application are among the
advantages factor that influence the market value for asphalt. The high demand substance
forced the manufacturing of the asphalt to increase the production and manufacturing plant.
Example of the application of asphalt is such as chemical-resistant binding material which
adapts into firm, tough surfaces for roads, streets, and airport run-ways.

Based on the

ancient civilizations, there is widely used asphalt as a mortar for building and paving blocks
used in temples, irrigation systems, reservoirs, and highways. The asphalts used by early
civilizations occurred naturally and were found in geologic strata.

Fig 1.0: Asphalt as the mixing compound

There is variety version of asphalt to define its quality. But to focus into major path
before asphalt has been process to meets the application requirement are only divide into
two type that is natural asphalts and modern asphalt. These major classifications are defined
based on the processing involve to obtain and how the process of asphalt are produced.
Natural asphalts formed when crude petroleum oils worked their way up through cracks and
fissures to the earth's surface. The action of the sun and wind drove off the lighter oils and
gases, leaving a black residue. Modern petroleum asphalt has the same durable qualities as
naturally occurring asphalt but comes from the refining asphalt from crude petroleum with
the added advantage of being refined to a uniform condition free from organic and mineral
impurities.

Manufacturing Process
The next is to elaborate the simple detail of manufacturing of the asphalt by using the
distillation process at refining plant. The process are required the raw material and certain
industrial components machinery that becomes the concern regarding the effects of the
environment pollution especially in air pollution spec of view.

Fig 1.1: Air pollution emission in Asphalt manufactory

The raw material used in modern asphalt manufacturing is petroleum, which is

naturally occurring liquid bitumen. Asphalt is a natural constituent of petroleum and crude
oils. Oil wells supply the crude petroleum to the oil refineries, where it is separated into its
various fractions. After the separation into fractions through a distillation process at the oil
refinery these fractions are further refined into other products which include asphalt, paraffin,
gasoline, naphtha, lubricating oil, kerosene, and diesel oil. Since asphalt is the base or
heavy constituent of crude petroleum, it does not evaporate or boil off during the distillation
process. The products from bottom are the asphalts.

Product

Environmental protection laws have developed stringent codes limiting water flows
and particulate and smoke emissions from oil refineries and asphalt processing plants. Not
only dust but sulfur dioxides, smoke, and many other emissions must be rigorously
controlled. Electrostatic precipitators, primary dust collectors using single or multiple cone
cyclones, and secondary collection units consisting of fabric filter collectors commonly called
"baghouses" are all required equipment to control emissions. Hydrocarbons formed in
asphalt production, if unchecked, create odoriferous fumes and pollutants which will stain
and darken the air. Pollutants emitted from asphalt production are controlled by enclosures
which capture the exhaust and then recirculate it through the heating process. This not only
eliminates the pollution but also increases the heating efficiency of the process.
Higher costs of asphalt cement, stone, and sand have forced the industry to increase
efficiencies and recycle old asphalt pavements. In asphalt pavement recycling, materials
reclaimed from old pavements are reprocessed along with new materials. The three major
categories of asphalt recycling are 1) hot-mix recycling, where reclaimed materials are
combined with new materials in a central plant to produce hot-mix paving mixtures, 2) coldmix recycling, where reclaimed materials are combined with new materials either onsite or at
a central plant to produce cold-mix base materials, and 3) surface recycling, a process in
which the old asphalt surface pavement is heated in place, scraped down or "scarified,"
remixed, relaid, and rolled. Organic asphalt recycling agents may also be added to help
restore the aged asphalt to desired specifications.

Fig. 1.2: Asphalt product in tar making

Because of solvent evaporation and volatility, use of cutback asphalts, especially

rapid cure cutback asphalts which use gasoline or naphtha, is becoming more restricted or

prohibited while emulsified asphalts (in which only the water evaporates) are becoming more
popular because of cost and environmental regulations.

Fig 1.3: Capital of Malaysia top view in Kuala Lumpur

As future precaution in maintaining the environment preservation, the alternative
sources of raw material are being researched, such as the production of synthetic asphalt
from the liquefaction of sewage sludge. To ensure consistent product quality, new methods
are being developed for manufacturing modified asphalts and emulsions. Many new tests
are being developed to help characterize asphalts, such as high-performance gelpermeation chromatography (HP-GPC), which allows many properties to be studied and the
results compiled in only a few minutes. New processes, more efficient mixing and milling
units, in-line liquid mass flow meters, on-line monitoring systems, and new safety equipment
are some other areas being investigated for improvement.

Malaysian Law on Air pollution

The Environmental Quality Act was enacted in 1974 with the objective to control and
prevent pollution and to protect and at the same time to enhance the quality of the
environment. Since then, a series of pollution control regulations have been gazetted under
the Act which includes the Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulation 1978.
The Clean Air Regulation which comes into force in October 1978 provides for the
control of siting potentially polluting industries and the emission of smoke, particulate and
other air impurities which include trace or toxic elements. The emission standards for So 2
and Nox from combustion sources are yet to be prescribed in the Act Table 1 listed the
various emission standards prescribed under the Clean Air Regulation.
As a comparison, the enactment of the Air Pollution Control Act of 1995 in the United
States, has initiated the following actions:

Research on the effects of air pollution by the Public Health Service.

Provision for technical assistance to the states by the Federal Government.
Training of individual in the area of air pollution.
In-house and out-of-house research on air pollution control.

The goal of the Clean Air Act is to protect the public health and welfare and enhance
the quality of the Nations air. Under the act, the Federal Government is responsible for
establishing, on a nationwide basis ambient air quality standards that are stringent enough to
protect the public health with on adequate margin of safety.
In this light, it is hope that our existing clean air resources will be preserved and
protected consistently with the economic growth of our country.

These regulations may be cited as the Environmental Quality (Clean Air)

Interpretation: P.U. (A) 151
air pollution control system means any facilities designed and constructed for the purpose
of preventing or reducing the potential emission that causes air pollution, and includes the
extraction system, control equipment and chimney;
Best Available Techniques Economically Achievable means the effective method in
preventing pollution and, where that is not practicable, generally to reduce emissions into the
air from the industrial activities and their impact on the environment as a whole.
Application: These Regulations shall apply to
(a) Any premises used for any industrial or trade purposes, or on which matter is burnt in
connection with any industrial or trade purposes, including burning of waste, whether or not
the premises are prescribed under section 18 of the Act;
(b) Any other premises or process that discharges or is capable of discharging air pollutants
into the open air;
(c) Any industrial plant; and
(d) Any fuel burning equipment.
Obligation to comply:
(1) An owner or occupier of a new premises shall comply with the limit values and technical
standards specified in these Regulations.
(2) An owner of every existing premise, including that which is not subject to any condition
on limit values for air pollutants whether on the licence issued or approval granted for the
operation of the existing facility, shall, on or before the expiry of five years from the date on
which these Regulations come into operation, take such measures as may be necessary to
comply with the opacity and limit values as specified in regulations 12 and 13.
(3) Notwithstanding subregulation (2), where there is a justified complaint or evidence of
nuisance, and in the opinion of the Director General compliance with regulations 12 and 13
should be accelerated, the Director General may serve upon the owner or occupier of the

existing premises a notice in writing requiring compliance within such shorter reasonable
period as the Director General may direct.

Obligation to notify
(1) An owner or occupier of a premise shall not, without giving prior written notification to the
Director General
(a) Carry out any change in operation of his premises;
(b) Carry out any work on any premises that may result in a source of emission;
(c) construct on any land, any building or premises designed or used for a purpose that may
result in a new source of emission;
(d) Make, cause, or permit to be made any change of, to, or in any plant, machine, or
equipment used or installed at the premises that causes a material change in the quantity or
quality of emission from an existing source; or
(e) Carry out any changes or modifications to an existing air pollution control system.
(2) The written notification shall be submitted to the Director General not less than thirty days
before the commencement of such work in such form as determined by the Director General.

THIRD SCHEDULE
[Regulation 13]

LIMIT VALUES AND TECHNICAL STANDARDS (BY ACTIVITY OR INDUSTRY)

ASPHALT MIXING PLANTS (STATIONARY INSTALLATIONS)

The O2 reference content is 17%

Fuel type
Liquid and gashouse

Pollutant
Carbon monoxide (CO)

Limit value
0.50 g/m3

Monitoring
Periodic

Solid

Carbon monoxide (CO)

1.0 g/m3

Periodic

All fuels

Total PM
NMVOC

50 mg/m3
50 mg/m3

Periodic
Periodic

NOTE:

1. Waste gases containing dust from the mineral rotary dryer, the asphalt granulate dryer
(parallel dryer), the transport units for hot minerals, the washer and the mixer shall be
collected and fed into a de-dusting system.
2. Crushers for recycled asphalt shall be encapsulated and equipped with effective control
equipment to reduce dust emissions, e.g., water sprinklers.
3. Waste gases from the vicinity of the mixer outflow, the transfer points to the mixer, the
transport units for the bituminous mixture and the transfer points to the loading silos which
contains organic substances shall be collected and fed into a suitable waste gas purification
facility, by feeding the waste gases into the mineral rotary dryer as combustion air.

4. Emissions of organic substances when the bitumen storage tanks are filled shall
preferably be avoided by using the vapor recovery technique.
5. Gaseous and volatile organic compounds shall be indicated as total organic carbon.