ReSource International ehf. have been working hard at experimenting with waste-polymer enhanced asphalt. The project has been funded by Tækniþróunarsjóður Rannís and the results are strikingly good.
The research objective is coined in order to ensure an economically feasible, residual resource-reliant and environmentally friendly solution for bound asphalt which simultaneously enhances asphalt and supports Iceland’s goals on sustainability.
Main results: 28 asphalt mixtures were tested, four replicates for each asphalt mixture, which were tested for: Marshall stability and flow, density and void content.
The results indicate that a doubled force is needed to break asphalt enhanced with waste-polymers. Lastly, wheel-track tests were performed which shows the tendency of asphalt to form wheel-tracks.
Wheel-track results show that the addition of waste-polymer decreases the asphalt‘s tendency to form wheel-tracks. Waste-polymer enhanced asphalt has set a record for the lowest wheel-track formation recorded by the Icelandic Innovation Center (NMÍ) for the last 10 years (at least).
Next steps: To contionue, this project ReSource is going to send asphalt samples to test the resistance of spiked tires and monitor the particulate matter for microplastics. Additionally, there are plans to lay a test section of waste-polymer enhanced road in order to monitor the performance of the asphalt in a real-life situation.
ReSource is looking forward to developing the project further and is excited to see the impact it will have on plastic recycling in Iceland.
