USE OF RECYCLED PLASTICS IN ASPHALT PAVEMENTS Aydan Guliyeva, Meyvagul Hajiyeva, Sabina Gozalova Baku Higher Oil School Baku, Azerbaijan aydan.guliyeva.std@bhos.edu.az, meyvagul.hajiyeva.std@bhos.edu.az, sabina.gozalova.std@bhos.edu.az Supervisor: Amir Vakhshouri Keywords: recycled plastics, modified asphalt, wet/dry process
The waste plastics have the detrimental effect on the marine and
terrestriall ecosystems. Therefore, recycling is considered the environmentally-
friendly way to diminish the ecological impact as it causes to the reduction of
carbon dioxide emissions, oil usage and the waste disposal. Reuse and
recycling waste plastics has become popular all over the world and substantial
improvement has been made toward the utilizing the waste plastics in asphalt
pavements. Incorporation of plastic waste with asphalt mix leads to the
asphalt mixture, which is known as the “Plastic Roads”. This technology is
utilized by numerous countries, including the United States, India, Indonesia,
Australia and the United Kingdom.
The use of plastic roads has many benefits in terms of cost, environmental
aspects, flexibility and durability. In general, plastic roads are the result of
modified asphalt. Modified asphalt is obtained by the use of virgin polymers.
However, they are not advantageous due to their cost and inaccessibility. In
that case, the application of waste plastics becomes a good alternative for
modified asphalt which is also considered as an eco-friendly way. As an
example, a project conducted by mixing 4500 printer cartridges, 63000 glass
bottles and 200000 plastics with asphalt pavement indicated that fatigue
resistance and rutting improved and the cost was less compared to polymer
modified asphalt. (White, 2018) Another research with the application of
plastics also shows that temperature performance and binding properties
enhanced.
A road with 3.75 m width and 1000 m length saves 1 ton of asphalt binder
if waste plastic is used as a substitute. In addition, the approximate lifetime
of this road is considered as 7 years. (R. Vasudevan, 2012) On the other
hand, melting of plastics has a negative impact on the environment.
Therefore, further investigations should be taken to solve this issue. (L.
Brasileiro, 2019)
In general, there are two main ways to get modified asphalt with the use
of waste plastics: Dry process, wet process (K.A. Ghuzlan, 2013)
Wet process is a bit difficult to conduct because it requires more
equipment and machinery. By contrast, in dry process waste plastics mixed
directly. (D. Movilla-Quesada, 2019)