Jim Smith Contracting Maximizes the Value of Evotherm
Jul 01, 2011
In June Jim Smith Contracting paved the eastbound lanes of I-24 near Grand Rivers, Kentucky. After a 3” mill, a 3-3.5” base miixture of PMAC from Marathon with 22% RAP was laid down. The surface will be a 1.5” PMAC. Using Evotherm, Jim Smith Contracting saved fuel costs, used less release agent, and took a roller off the job.
While polymer modified HMA is normally produced at 340 F, Jim Smith lowered the target production temperature by 70 degrees F to 270F and saved 25% at their burner. The drum dropped 2 inches lower than it has ever been before. They believe that Evotherm cleaned out their drum with less build up. The lighter drum pulls less amperage and rotates easier. One more area of savings was the release agent utilized on dump trucks. JIm Smith used half the amount for the Evotherm PMAC than for traditional HMA PMAC.
Although the job started using 3 rollers, they quickly dropped down to 2 rollers – saving the cost of running a roller. The first breakdown roller was a new narrow-width CAT CD 54 low-frequency, vibratory compactor. The second roller was a CAT CB 64 high-frequency vibratory compactor with a wide-width drum that ran 2 passes. The paving crew consistently exceeded the target density of 93%.
While Evotherm’s not free, there are lots of places to make more than your money back: increaseed RAP, fuel savings, less release agent, and lower labor & equipment costs all add up. We’ll send you an Evotherm calculator spreadsheet if you’d like to try it yourself.
Author: Lance Brooks
