Life Cycle Assessment of Self-healing Versus Traditional Maintenance Road Techniques

Self-healing roads are a new generation of pavements whose materials are capable of recovering their original properties after having suffered breakages or failures. This innovative technology aims to reduce the consumption of natural resources and non-renewable energy in the whole life-cycle of roads, due to the potential achievement of increasing their lifespan compared to traditional maintenance operations. Several previous tests have demonstrated the possibility of achieving new asphalt mixtures that could be self-healing by means of microwaves or induction when the pavement reaches deterioration, so the traditional maintenance technique could be postponed. As self-healing technology is still under study, there is a lack of rigorous environmental and economic studies. This study presents the quantification of the advantages and shortcomings of this novel technique when compared to traditional rehabilitation activities, since it is currently one of the priority research lines for paving materials nowadays. Analyses have been done by the application of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. Results show a clear influence of self-healing in the comparative environmental performance in the majority of the impact categories. In fact, climate change impact could be reduced up to 15%, while the acquisition of extra abiotic materials is reduced by 50%.