Asphalt plant having centralized media burner and low fugitive emissions

An asphalt plant comprising:

• a plurality of processing components including a drum dryer/mixer, an asphalt cement storage tank, and a silo for storage of finished hot mix asphalt;
• a central burner assembly disposed separately from the plurality of processing components;
• first means for conveying volatile emissions from the drum dryer/mixer and at least one of the asphalt cement storage tank and the silo to the central burner assembly;
• and
• second means for conveying heat energy from the central burner assembly to drum dryer/mixer and the asphalt cement storage tank.

An asphalt plant, comprising:

• a plurality of asphalt processing components, a first set of the components producing volatile emissions and including a drum dryer/mixer and at least one of an asphalt storage silo and a liquid asphalt storage tank, a second set of the components requiring process heat energy and including the drum dryer/mixer and the asphalt storage tank;
• a central media burner for producing process heat energy in the form of heated gases, the central media burner having an enclosed combustion chamber defined in part by a top wall, a bottom wall, and an interconnecting sidewall, a portion of the combustion chamber containing a matrix of flame arresting ceramic members, the central media burner including an inlet and an outlet, the central media burner being separate from each of the plurality of asphalt processing components;
• a fuel delivery system adapted to deliver combustion fuel directly to the combustion chamber;
• a duct system in flow communication with the first set of components and the central media burner inlet, the duct system adapted to capture a portion of the volatile emissions produced by the first set of components and convey the captured emissions to the inlet of the central media burner for mitigation;
• and
• a plurality of ducts adapted to convey heat energy from the central burner assembly to each of the second set of components.