The role of rejuvenating agents in the recycling of asphalt mixtures

Abstract

Nowadays, recycling of materials is very important to the society in general, but in what respects to the Construction industry, this issue is even stronger. The reuse of reclaimed asphalt (RA) mixtures is something that allows reducing the costs and the environmental impact of the paving activities. But the incorporation of RA in the production of new mixtures could cause some problems due to the characteristics of the aged bitumen present in the RA material. The resolve this issue, it is common to use additives, known as rejuvenating agents, to restore the bitumen properties lost in the ageing process. In this study, four rejuvenating agents (or rejuvenators) and two binders were tested. One of the rejuvenators is a vegetal oil and the others are commercial additives, one of them is already present in the market and the other two are in the final stage of development. The main conclusion that can be obtained from this study is that all the rejuvenators tested produce similar results in terms of the modification of the binder properties.