by Steven E. Smith
Scotty’s Contracting and Stone, LLC of Bowling Green, KY is known for its extensive lineup of products and services. From high quality highway, parking lot and driveway asphalt paving, to drain construction and aggregate production, Scotty’s is able to provide it all.  With perfect weather for the event, a sizable crowd gathered for the ribbon cutting ceremony.
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James D. Scott founded Scotty’s Paving in 1972. In 2000, the company, which had developed into Scotty’s Contracting and Stone, became an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) company within the Houchen’s Industries family of companies. During that time, one of the most important divisions in Scotty’s organization became the asphalt division. Scotty’s had developed the ability to complete large interstate projects while at the same time having the finesse to complete even small residential driveways. This flexibility helped to make Scotty’s a leader in asphalt paving in the south central Kentucky region. Astec asphalt plant upgraded
According to Mike Law VP of Materials at Scotty’s, recent innovations at the Bowling Green facility have increased the productivity of that plant. Law said that they recently replaced the 300-ton per hour Astec asphalt plant that has served there reliably since 1987. They replaced it with an Astec Double Barrel Green plant. Law said that one of the reasons for improving the asphalt plant was to increase the use recycled asphalt materials as well as to improve their Green technologies. “The increase in capacity and features of our new plant coupled with the increase in cold storage bins has enabled Scotty’s to substantially increase our asphalt production,” he said. Why the Double Barrel Green system
For Scotty’s, the Astec Double Barrel Green system made sense because they were able to increase the use of recycled asphalt parent (RAP.) While recycling asphalt harvested from paving repair activities is not a new technique in the paving business, through improved particle sizing and introduction into the asphalt mix, the Double Barrel drum mixer system enabled Scotty’s to increase the RAP percentage in their mixes to between 30-40 percent of the total mix. Many companies strive to include some recycled material in their mixes, but most are limited to using only 15 percent RAP because of the age of their asphalt plants. At Scotty’s, the increase in RAP has allowed them to double their recycling capabilities. “With the increasing liquid asphalt prices, the move to the new Astec system has been a real positive,” stated Law. 
Astec Green technology enables Scotty's to use water in the production of warm mix asphalt instead of commercially produced additives.
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Jim Scott - president of Scotty's Contracting (left) and Todd Davis 2009 chairman of Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce prepare to cut the ribbon at the new plant installation.
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Increased storage part of the plan
Storage system improvements were another important advancement to the Bowling Green asphalt unit. In order to meet their increasing production needs, Scotty’s decided that they would need to have enough cold storage bins to eliminate bottlenecks in the asphalt production system. Accordingly, they arranged the storage system so that they have production capacity of 500-tons per hour.
“We make five different mixes with some that include skid resistant additives,” said Law. “So we knew we would need to look at increased storage capacity, especially in light of the increased production capabilities with the Double Barrel plant.” Scotty’s, in concert with the engineering staff at Astec, developed plant and storage designs to maximize their asphalt production potential. Scotty’s added four 300-ton Astec New Generation storage silos, six cold feed bins and two RAP bins. Scotty’s facility now has the ability to stage more tons of production per day within the division. “We get a 1,200-ton head start of aggregate towards the daily demand for finished asphalt,” stated Law. Change in the paving business
Another important innovation at Scotty’s has been the Green feature on the new asphalt plant that enables Scotty’s to increase their production of warm mix asphalt. Warm mix asphalt technology offers advantages to both Scotty’s and their customers. Instead of heating the asphalt blend to 350 degrees, warm mix asphalt is produced at a temperature 300-310 degrees. “One of the benefits with the Astec system is that it does not require expensive commercial additives to produce warm mix asphalt. Instead, we add water as the foaming agent. In turn we use less burner fuel to heat the mix and produce less smoke and odor,” said Law. He also noted that in some cases, warm mix asphalt is easier to work with and to compact.
After heating the aggregate to dry and prepare it for introduction into the asphalt plant, the aggregate is blended with liquid asphalt mix that has already been heated to about 310 degrees. Then one pound of water per ton is added to the asphalt mixture. According to Law, this inclusion of water foams the liquid asphalt and expands the mix more than thirty times the surface area of liquid asphalt alone. “By increasing the viscosity or workability at a lower temperature, Scotty’s asphalt has become a more cost effective product,” indicated Law. Scotty’s has strived to perfect the system. “Today we have an improved line of cost effective quality asphalt mixes,” added Law. “Our goal is to produce asphalt at a lower cost with no noticeable differences in product performance. We have laid some of the first warm mix asphalt in the state of Kentucky. Scotty’s now has more than 100,000-tons in place to date,” stated Law. At the top of the list of Scotty’s asphalt projects is the expansive I-65 project. They have been involved with I-65 over the last six years. With the addition of their new Double Barrel system from Astec, Scotty’s paving division is able to produce 1.5 million tons of hot mix asphalt per year. Clearly, Scotty’s is on their way to becoming a leader in asphalt production as an innovator in new technologies. To comment on this story or for additional details click on the related button above. |