A plant in which heat, in the range of 600ºF, is used to convert asphalt to a liquid form and coat heated gravel or crushed rock as a prelude to the use of these materials as a paving substance.

In some communities, contaminated soil, removed from around leaking underground storage tanks, is transported to a local asphalt batching plant. There, the contaminated soil is loaded onto conveyers and subjected to the heat process used for manufacturing asphalt paving. In the case of contaminated soil, this heat treatment serves to burn the hydrocarbons present in the soil. The soil, having been freed of its contamination, may be returned to the site from which it was removed although it is not suitable as a backfill for new tanks that may be installed at the site.