New Industrial Additive
The challenge
Throughout the many R&D projects that have been developed in recent years, it has been shown that elastomeric material could increase the elastic recovery of bitumen, substantially improving the quality of asphalt, and especially increasing its durability.
However, there were no proven methods of work and technologies that would maximize the benefits of this material without the generation of disadvantages in existing plants or the modification of installations dedicated to the preparation of bituminous mixtures.
The solution
Development of a rubber powder from tires out-of-use industrial additive, based on an innovative manufacturing process, capable of producing asphalt by semi wet method with a rubber powder from tires out-of-use content of about 30%, exceeding all current limits.
This new additive gives asphalts characteristics similar to those provides by synthetic polymers and even better properties, in some aspects.
Innovations / Improvements
•Valorization of out-of-use tires waste, reducing the amount destined for landfill.
•Increased knowledge of mechanical behavior of additives for bituminous mixtures.
•Improvement of the additive manufacturing process for the manufacture of bituminous firm by semi-wet method.
•Increase the options for firm additives available for sale on the market.
This project has been funded by the Center for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI)