Effect of incorporating different waste materials in bitumen

The increasing environmental concern about waste materials and the necessity of improving the performance of asphalt mixtures prompted the study of incorporating different waste materials in conventional bitumen. The reuse of waste materials can present benefits at an environmental and economic level, and some wastes can be used to improve the pavement performance. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the incorporation of different waste materials in bitumen, namely waste motor oil and different polymers. In order to accomplish this goal, 10% of waste motor oil and 5% of polymers (high density polyethylene, crumb rubber and styrene-butadiene-styrene) were added to a conventional bitumen and the resulting modified bitumens were characterized through basic and rheological tests. From this work, it can be concluded that the incorporation of different waste materials improve some important properties of the conventional bitumen. Such improvements might indicate a good behaviour at medium/high temperatures and an increase of fatigue and rutting resistance. Therefore, these modified bitumens with waste materials can contribute to a sustainable development of road paving industry due to their performance and environmental advantages.

Portuguese Government and EU/FSE within a FCT PhD grant(SFRH/BD98379/2013), in the scope of POPH/QREN, as well as the funding by FEDER through the Competitiveness Factors Operational Programme(COMPETE) and by national funds through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the scope of PLASTIROAD Project (PTDC/ECM/119179/2010) The authors would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the company ELEVO Group through the project “Energy Efficiency and Environmental Design of Bituminous Mixtures to Reduce Emissions of Greenhouse Gases” (QREN-SI 090528)