Iowa State University. "Possible Green Replacement for Asphalt Derived from Petroleum to Be Tested on Iowa Bike Trail." ScienceDaily 6 October 2010. 6 October 2010 .
The article is about a professor at Iowa State University, Christopher Williams, a professor of civil construction and environmental engineering, who was doing an experiment to see if adding bio-oil to asphalt would improve the pavement of the roads in either hot or cold conditions. Williams found a green alternative for asphalt in this process, which derived from petroleum. They are going to further test this substance on the Des Moines bicycle trail by paving part of the trail with this substance called Bioasphalt. Asphalt mixtures derived from plants and trees could replace petroleum-based mixes. That could create a new market for Iowa crop residues. It could be a business opportunity for Iowans. And it saves energy and money because Bioasphalt can be mixed and paved at lower temperatures than conventional asphalt. Bio-oil is created by a thermochemical process called fast pyrolysis. Corn stalks, wood wastes or other types of biomass are quickly heated without oxygen. The process produces a liquid bio-oil that can be used to manufacture fuels, chemicals and asphalt plus a solid product called biochar that can be used to enrich soils and remove greenhouses gases from the atmosphere. "This demonstration project is a great opportunity," he said. "We're introducing a green technology into a green environment in Des Moines. And it's a technology that's been developed here in Iowa." Everyone is really excited about this project and if all goes well in the test, there will be more tests with higher and higher amounts of Bioasphalt contained in them.
The article was important to society because as a whole we are all trying to become green one step at a time and this asphalt alternative is a perfect way to continue the path to a greener planet. Also, this alternative would be better economically and would be better in rough conditions such as intense heat or the intense cold. I chose this article because I believe in converting the planet to greener habits in all aspects of life and this article exemplified that conversion that I believe in.
I felt the article could have been more informative about how Williams came upon this alternative source of asphalt because it just briefly mentions his experiment, but no real technical explanation. Also, I felt the article was too brief and could have had much more information about how this could affect roads across the country or across the world, all the author talked about was that it would help out the state of Iowa a lot, when he makes no comment about how it could affect the country.
5 comments:
Jack Deasy
October 7, 2010
In this article there were quite a few things that I thought where presented well. I think that max did a very good job in telling us what the Bioasphalt was. The reason that I say this is because he gave the best description that he could give based on the article. Max told us what the Bioasphalt was and how it was going to be used. He even gave and explanation as to how it was created. He did this by telling us that it is the heating of “Corn stalks, wood wastes or other types of biomass are quickly heated without oxygen”. I also like how he told us why it would be such a great thing to have for us to use. He explained how it could be used in places that have a much more extreme temperature change over the year. If they were able to test this successfully he told use how much of a useful type of paving it would be. Finally, I liked how he showed us it could have other uses then just asphalt. He told us that it could be used to enrich the soil and take the bad chemicals out of the atmosphere. I think that this is very important because it would really help out with global warming.
I think that they’re a few things in this article that could have used some work. First off, I thought that the article was a little weak on the information. I found that there was not as much information I would have liked for a science article. Also, for the last two paragraphs there is not much he tells us. He writes a couple of sentences but does not really explain his feelings. He has some great points in these articles but there is not much information there.
Finally, I learned what the next most likely asphalt is going to be.
1. Max gave a strong summary sentence at the beginning of his review explaining what Williams goal was in performing his experiment. He wanted to see whether if adding bio-oil to asphalt would improve the pavement of the roads in either hot or cold conditions.
2. He explained the benefits behind using bio-asphalt compared to normal asphalt very clearly and made the concept easy to understand.
3. I liked how he used quotes from Mr. Williams in his review so that his review was based on raw facts and statements from Mr. Williams and not just Max’s judgment on the situation.
1. I think he could have explained how bio oil is created and used a little bit better and in more detail that he did.
2. I wish Max discussed more of the positive results that can result from the use of this alternative for our society. There are definitely numerous ways that this will help keep out world a cleaner and safer place.
1. I had never heard of this bio-asphalt compromise to help the environment. It seems very possible to use and I think it would be a great thing for our society to look into to help keep our world a cleaner place.
Max wrote a great review on the article "Possible Green Replacement for Asphalt." He was able to explain Christopher Williams experiment very clearly. I also liked how he stated the experiment and then explained the background information of it instead of just stating it and expecting us to already know what everything meant. I also really liked how Max presented the quotes from the article because they made his review a lot more believable and made his arguments a lot more meaningful. I would have loved if he explained the types of crops that would be created from the new market for Iowa crop residues. I also want to know how Christopher Williams discovered the green alternative for asphalt. I learned a lot from this review but what really stuck out to me is that it saves energy and money because Bioasphalt can be mixed and paved at lower temperatures than conventional asphalt.
This review was well done because it summarized the would be effects of a new bio-asphalt, its origin, and its practical uses thoroughly. First, the review summarizes how Christopher Williams came about the bio asphalt while doing an experiment to see if bio-oil would improve asphalt in hot or cold conditions. It also includes how the experiment lead to discovering a green alternative for asphalt which came from petroleum. The article also illustrates how this new bio-asphalt will be tested by including that the asphalt will pave bike trails in Des Moines. The article also includes how this new discovery will benefit Iowans, creating a business opportunity for farmers while saving energy because the new bio asphalt can be mixed and and paved at low temperatures. This new asphalt will be created by heating corn stalks, wood wastes or other bio masses quickly without oxygen, creating a liquid bio-oil that can be used to manufacture fuels, chemicals, and a product called biochar that can remove green house gases from the atmosphere as well as enrich soils.
To improve this review, there could have been more detail as to the chemical composition of this new bio-asphalt and more detail concerning the technicalities of the experiment conducted by Christopher Williams, however due to the nature of the original article, those details were omitted from the review because they were not available in the original article.
I was impressed by this review because it concerns improving environmental standards in the United States by alternative methods that are unconventional and clever. This review also proves that most of the world's most innovative discoveries are often made on accident while trying to achieve another objective.
I think Max did a very fine job in reviewing this article. Once again he was very relevant in the topic that he chose, following the green alternative. Another thing I liked about this review/article was that although it was about an alternative it was different from the normal ones we hear about which I think gives Max some credibility. The final positive remark I will make can be looked at two ways. I liked how Max described the process of creating bio-oil because he did a good job simplifying it. Now although I did enjoy how Max described it, making it much less complicated, I still think that he could have explained it a little more in depth; which is my first negative comment. The other negative comment is the cynicism that Max showed towards the end of his review towards the author concerning the expansion of the bio-oil. I believe that the author is excited for Iowa because it is a start of a possibility so I think that Max’s restlessness for the possible expansion of bio-oil will have to be quenched. Like Austin I had never heard of bio-oil and I believe that it could possibly be a fuel alternative though I would have to do research on the subject. This is an interesting topic because the reader starts to wonder whether or not bio-oil is only constrained to helping pave roads.
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