Environmental Considerations

Air Quality Issues

The largest inpact on air quality in a paveing operation is the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOC)'s that are given off. The major source of VOC' are the cutback asphalts that may be usede. But there are only minor amounts of VOCs are emitted from emulsified asphalts and asphalt cements. The VOC emissions from cutback asphalts result from the evaporation of the petroleum distillate used to liquefy the asphalt cement in the tack coat. These VOC emissions can occur at both the job site and at the hot mixing plant. The good news is our tack coat is an emulsion not cut back that would have a much higher VOC. By using our tack coat the in place of cutback asphalts you eliminate the VOC emissions. WE know that the use of cutback asphalt is regulated in this area to help reduce VOC emissions. But is inportant to know that the product does help reduce VOC's in the paveing operation. The other option would be to use cut back and the resulting higher emmisions.

Not Hazzardous

According to The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), asphalt cement the primary component in tack coat is not considered a hazardous material. However, small amounts of other materials may contained in additives added to emulsifying agents or performance enhancing agents used to create the amulsion and keep it emulsified over time. The concentrations of these other chemical agents in asphalt emulsions are usually in such small quantities that a major release would need to occure to be any kind of issue.