Waste Polythene in Bitumen

Published on 19 Apr 2022. Written by Vinay Raj

Bituminous Concrete is used in construction projects such as surfacing roads, parking yards, and so on. It comprises of asphalt (used as a binder) and mineral aggregate which is mixed together & placed down in layers and then compressed. In recent years, the regular increase in traffic volume, and changes in daily and seasonal temperature is making the pavements surfaces less durable.

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To overcome these, few replacements are made to bitumen for improving the pavement characteristics and quality. Thus, it will satisfy both the strength as well as economic aspects.

Either waste polythene gets mixed with the municipal solid waste or thrown over the open land area if they are not recycled. If waste polythene is incinerated, it pollutes the air or if they dumped into someplace it creates soil & water pollution. To overcome this an alternative and effective use of plastic waste are needed.

Altering the Bitumen Concrete with polymer (polythene) increases fatigue life, reduces the rutting & thermal cracking inside the pavement. Asphalt, when combined with the polymer, forms a multiphase layer, this increases the viscosity of the mix as they form into a more complex internal structure. It can be used as a solution to overcome the above-mentioned issues that are caused due to wheel loads and climatic conditions.

Bituminous Concrete is majorly used by the paving industries. All the pavements are made of different layers like sub-grade, sub-base, base, etc. and pavements are of two types Flexible and rigid pavements.

Flexible Pavement: If the surface of the pavement is covered with bitumen it is called flexible pavement. In this type, the whole pavement deflects due to the wheel loads. Maximum highways in India are flexible pavements.

Rigid Pavement: If the surface of the pavement is covered with PCC then it is a Rigid pavement. In this type, only the top layer gets deflected due to the wheel loads. Rigid pavements are harder than the flexible pavements because of the high modulus of elasticity of Plain Cement Concrete.

Requirements:

Knowledge of testing bitumen samples.

Need for plastic waste such as plastic bags, or any polymer-based waste.

Knowledge of operating marshal testing machine for testing bitumen samples.

Knowledge of Bitumen Materials (Flow value, Stability Value).

Project Implementation:

1. Accumulate the waste polythene (Plastic bags with more thickness like milk sachet are most appropriate).
2. Bitumen of the desired grade.
3. Coarse and fine aggregate.
4. Equipment for evaluating Flow, Penetration and Ductility values of Bitumen.

Advantages

• Modified bitumen can take greater temperature stresses and make pavement resistant against water seepage.
• By replacing the plastic with bitumen, reduces the pollutants to surroundings and Bitumen (a by-product of fractional distillation) use is also decreased and saved for the coming generation.

Conclusion:

The use of plastic in the bitumen will make the surroundings pollution free to some extent and the pavement will be in good condition for more period when compared with the pavements of ordinary bitumen.

Kit required to develop Waste Polythene in Bitumen:

• Marshall apparatus

Technologies you will learn by working on Waste Polythene in Bitumen:

• Bitumen design
• Transportation
• Reusing waste

Any Questions?