Sustainability Challenge:
Changes in construction materials economics, environmental regulations, and an emphasis on sustainable pavements means highway engineers are seeking solutions that enhance use of recovered materials in pavements and asphalt surfaces while enabling high-quality roads and infrastructure.
Chemistry Solution:
Kraton asphalt performance additives enable development of durable, cost-effective roads using high percentages of reclaimed asphalt, enabling resource efficiency and shorter construction time.
Sustainability Benefit:
Kraton developed an asphalt performance additive that can help build sustainable highways by enabling use of reclaimed asphalt pavement in road rehabilitation projects.
Around the world, investment in transportation infrastructure continues to grow, enhancing the need for sustainable, environmentally sound construction processes and materials.
SYLVAROAD™ RP1000 Performance Additive, produced by Kraton, a global copolymer producer, helps make asphalt recycling more sustainable by enabling high-performance reuse of recycled asphalt pavement. The additive also improves resource efficiency by reducing the need for virgin aggregates and liquid asphalt, while reducing the overall environmental impact of road construction
By helping to enable a significant increase in the amount of reclaimed materials that can be used in an asphalt mix, use of the high-performance additive can lead to more sustainable and resource-efficient road construction. The engineered use of this high-performance additive can also help reduce pavement thickness, saving raw materials and construction time.
Derived from crude tall oil (CTO), a bio-based raw material that is a byproduct of the paper manufacturing industry, SYLVAROAD™ RP1000 High Performance Additive makes effective use of existing resources to help make asphalt road construction more economical, durable and sustainable.
With less than a kilogram per ton of asphalt mix, typically containing up to 50 percent reclaimed asphalt pavement, the SYLVAROAD™ RP1000 additive can restore aged material to its original properties and minimize cracking and rutting on the road. The CTO additive also enhances asphalt mix performance so that high recycled content can be used in surface-layer paving mixes, not just sub-surface layers.
Kraton’s bio-based products are derived from biomass, and many of its products are certified under the European Bio-based certification scheme; the SYLVAROAD™ RP1000 additive is certified 90 percent bio-based. After five years of stakeholder collaboration, various European road authorities began using SYLVAROAD™ RP1000 additive on commercial road projects. Benefits reported by road authorities include reduced stockpiles of reclaimed asphalt pavement and optimized use of recovered products.
