The Plastics Industry Association (Plastics), Washington, has released promising results from its New End Market Opportunities (NEMO) for Film Asphalt Project in partnership with the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT). “Plastics is proud to have worked with NCAT, and all of our project partners, to produce the most comprehensive set of data on the effects of rPE in asphalt. We’re making our research publicly available in an open-source format,” says Tony Radoszewski, president and CEO of Plastics. “The entire plastics industry is working to demonstrate the application of recycled material.”
Research has shown that even in small amounts rPE could improve properties such as stiffness and resistance without cracking due to low temperature or fatigue. According to Plastics, with the right blend of rPE and a reactive copolymer additive, new asphalt formulations match the effectiveness of traditional styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer (SBS) at less cost.
“As a leading institute for asphalt research, NCAT was well equipped to work with our plastics industry partners to develop new formulations that can use recycled plastics,” says Fan Yin, assistant research professor at NCAT. “This not only creates a new and important end-market opportunity but lays important groundwork for further testing around improving the lifespan and performance of roadways using recycled feedstocks, creating an environmental win-win for the asphalt industry.” Based on successful lab-scale research on the latest rPE formula, Plastics is now working with several companies to use it on privately funded roadways and parking lots.
Source: Recycling Todayas
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