Bitumen production
Refined bitumen is derived from crude petroleum.
The European bitumen industry (EU 27) produces approximately 20 million tonnes each year for use in the manufacture of road materials and a wide variety of specialist building and industrial products.
The majority (85 - 90 per cent) is used in the construction and maintenance of bituminous, or asphalt roads. Bitumen production is a specialist activity and is not carried out in all oil refineries. It requires crude oils with specific characteristics and only some crudes are suitable. Of the 1,300 (or more) types of crude oils, only approximately 10 per cent can be used to produce bitumens that meet the stringent engineering requirements of end users today.
There are 115 oil refineries in Europe (EU 27) of which around 74 produce bitumen.
As an engineering material, bitumen is produced to meet a variety of end-use specifications based upon physical properties. Bitumen may be customised for special road applications and hundreds of grades have also been developed for the non-road industrial segment, including paint, roofing, water and sound-proofing.
European asphalt
Asphalt is typically a mix of approximately 95 per cent aggregate and sand, and five per cent of bitumen, which acts as the binder.
- Over 90% of the total road network has an asphalt surface
- Over 300 million tonnes of hot mix asphalt is produced per annum and approximately 5 million tonnes of cold mixtures
- Asphalt is 100% recyclable
- Recycling has increased significantly in recent years
- Quantities recycled directly back into road surfaces vary from country to country, but can be as high as 70%
- There are over 4,000 asphalt production sites in Europe and over 10,000 companies are involved in the production and/or the laying of the asphalt
European Roads
The European road network (EU27) is over five and half million kilometres long.
Its composition in thousands of kms is:
- Motorways: 63.5
- National roads: 291.7
- Secondary or regional roads: 1,406.8
- Other roads: 3,833.5
The European traffic population is estimated at 230 million passenger cars and over 31 million commercial vehicles.