In order to minimize costs and the resources necessary to produce new asphalt, recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) may be processed to retrieve aggregate material and asphalt cement or asphalt oil contained therein. In addition, asphalt shingles that make up a significant portion of residential roofing materials may also be recycled to produce new asphalt. During the recycling process, some portion of the RAP and the recycled shingles may be recovered as an aggregate material or as asphalt oil.
During the recycling process, the oil content retrieved from the recycled material is not always uniform; therefore, additional virgin oil must be incorporated into the new asphalt. As the oil content of new asphalt is regulated and required to fall within specific ranges, the oil content of the new asphalt is sometimes examined after it is manufactured to determine its conformity to the specified ranges. The lack of uniformity in the amount of oil recovered from recycled materials may result in inadequate new asphalt that may bring about excessive fines and penalties for asphalt producers. Therefore, a need exists for a system to monitor the oil content provided by recycled materials and to adjust, automatically, the incorporation of virgin oil as necessary, in real time.