Environmental Impact Assessment of Bitumen and PMB production in the UAE

Abstract

Increasing traffic loads and volumes, and weather-related conditions are the principal causes of the failure of flexible pavements. In the UAE, many pavement structures are suffering from different distresses, especially rutting and cracking, due to heavy traffic and high temperatures.

Asphalt mixtures are designed using the Marshall mix-design method and the Abu Dhabi Municipality is evaluating the replacement of this outdated methodology with the Superpave method. The upcoming change of mix-design protocol, from Marshall to Superpave, will make the use of polymer modified bitumen mandatory.

The SBS is the most used synthetic polymer, and it covers the entire polymer modifier market. Nevertheless, the recent push in using recycled materials in roads has brought new light to the use of recycled elastomers and plastomers for bitumen modification as a low-cost and somehow environmentally beneficial solution for pavement construction. Thus, this thesis compares the environmental impacts of incorporating recycled plastics and tires into bitumen instead of SBS.

The goal of this research is the development of a life cycle inventory for the production of bitumen and polymer modified bitumen in the UAE, and the subsequent implementation of a life cycle assessment procedure following the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards to evaluate the environmental burdens that derive from the local production of these materials.

The results of this study will be used in further activities related to the evaluation of the environmental impacts of asphalt mixtures production and, broadly, the implementation of a product environmental declaration for paving materials in the UAE.

Date of Award	Dec 2022
Original language	American English
Supervisor	Michele Antonio Lanotte (Supervisor)