The utilitarian project objective is the utilization of waste polymer materials for bituminous emulsions preparation and, due to the scale of production, for road construction. This may be a very efficient way for recycling polymer waste. The consequence of these actions would be the introduction of new products to the Applicant’s offer – a wide range of products in the field of bituminous emulsions with improved strength-coupling parameters in comparison to currently used in the road construction.
Even though plastic materials are fully recyclable, currently only a fraction of these waste materials are subjected to recycling.
In Poland, the annual consumption of plastic materials, in all applications, is approx. 60 kg per 1 inhabitant, of which according to estimates only approx. 10% is recovered.
The introduction of polymer nanofibers also manufactured of waste polymers, to the final stage of bituminous emulsions production, will increase the low temperature resistance, which is one of the main causes concerning detachment of the upper layer of the road surface and will contribute to the improvement of mechanical and elastic properties in longitudinal and transverse directions.
The utilization of waste materials will also be very beneficial to the environment. It is expected that following the implementation of a completely new production method of bituminous emulsion production, the life cycle of bituminous surface, built by means of the innovative technology, will lengthen by 30%, thereby improving traffic safety.
Bituminous emulsion modified with polymer recyclate and mineral nanofillers as well as the developed production technology of these emulsions can be ranked among best business practices, thus providing a resources of knowledge transfer enabling best practices repetition and imitation in other member states.
The main project objective is to demonstrate the functioning of the innovative technology for the production of bituminous emulsion modified with polymer recyclate and mineral nanofillers.