ASPHALT AND BITUMEN MODIFICATION IN ROAD CONSTRUCTION
Road authorities across the globe know that using modified asphalt in new road projects is good business. It is cost-efficient in the medium and long term because the roads are less prone to rutting and cracking. This reduces maintenance, which is both a financial and a traffic-related problem as roads must be partly closed during maintenance work.
The most common way to modify bitumen in modern road construction is to use SBS (styrene-butadiene-styrene), a synthetic rubber. SBS is made from scarce virgin resources and is not only costly from an economical point of view – but also environmentally. Rubber powder recovered from tyre rubber (GENAN FINE POWDER 0.2 – 0.8 mm) can be used as a bitumen modifier. This method has been used less and less over the years and has been replaced by GENAN ROAD+ PREMIXED, where rubber powder is premixed with Vestenamer® and then mixed with stone and bitumen (Dry Method). GENAN ROAD+ PREMIXED provides the asphalt with all the same properties as SBS and is therefore a more sustainable alternative.
