Plastic Waste Modified Bitumen
As highway
for Road Construction
A Review
Anurag V. Tiwari*
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering,
Sipna College of Engineering and Technology,
Amravati(M.S), India
Dr. Y R M Rao
Principal, Dr. Pauls Engineering College,Villupuram
Dist (T.N), India
Email: anuragearth@gmail.com,
dryrmrao@rediffmail.com
Abstract
Now a days, disposal of plastic waste has
became issue of great concern for environmental
engineers due to its non-biodegradable charac-
teristics and health hazards. In the recent years
application of this plastic waste for modifying the
bitumen for road construction has resulted in eco-
friendly use of waste material and construction cost
reduction. Majority of road in India is of flexible
type and made-up of bituminous concrete. Bitumen
being extracted from the naturally occurring crude
oil has limitation on its availability and hence some
alternative materials are highly appreciated. The
present study aims for use of abundantly available
plastic waste for modifying bitumen for road
construction. The paper includes details of literature
and process for using plastic waste in road
construction and aims to create consciousness
regarding application of waste plastic in road
construction to reduce environmental pollution in
economic way.
Keyword: Plastic Waste, Waste reuse, Road
construction
10 . Introduction
In the recent years industrial development and
rapid urbanization has lead to generation of huge
quantity of solid waste and environmental
pollution. Solid waste management has emerged as
major issue of concern for environmental engineers
now a days. Due to improper dumping of this waste
material, environment is getting polluted to large
extent and hence, there is an urgent need to reuse
and recycle this waste into useful forms.
India is having second largest road network
of over 4.6 lakh KM in the world. Due to extreme
climatic conditions, growth of traffic and increasing
maintenance expenditure on roads in India there
is a necessity to develop sustainable technologies
*Corresponding Author
Volume 2015-16 z Number 2 z July 2015
and economical road construction.
construction involves huge sum of money,
appropriate engineering design and use of waste
material in construction of highways may save
considerable cost. It should be noted that major
portion of highway in India is flexible. Several
studies have shown that permanent deformation
within flexible pavement is usually confined to the
top 100 to 150 mm of the pavement also known as
surface course[1].
Unfortunately, plastic is non-biodegradable
material which will remain in the environment for
hundreds of years leading to waste disposal crisis
as well as various environmental concerns. One
solution to this crisis is recycling waste into useful
products[2]. Polyethylene is extensively used plastic
material, and it has been found to be one of the
most effective polymer additives in road
construction[3,4]. In recent years cost of bitumen in
India has raised very rapidly due to hike in the
crude oil price. It should be noted that in India NH
contributes only 2% of the total road network but
carries 40% of the traffic but no study shows that
plastics are used in any of SH and NH in India.
2.0 Plastic Production and Consumption in
India
A material that contains one or more organic
polymers of large molecular weight, solid in its
finish state and at some state while manufacturing
or processing into finished articles, can be shaped
by its flow is termed as plastics[5]. Details of types
and sources of waste plastics is shown in Fig. 1:
Fig. 1: Details of Types and Sources of Waste
Plastics [6]
41
 Anurag V. Tiwari & Dr. Y R M Rao

The plastic constitutes two major category of Bangalore University used processed plastic bags
plastics; (i) Thermoplastics and (ii) Thermoset as an additive in asphalt concrete mixes. The
plastics. The thermoplastics, constitutes 80% and properties of this modified bitumen were compared
thermoset constitutes approximately 20% of total to that of ordinary bitumen. It was noted that
postconsumer plastics waste generated. The table penetration and ductility values of modified
1 describes the average municipal solid waste bitumen was decreasing with the increase in
production from 0.21 to 0.50 Kg per capita per day proportion of the plastic additive, up to 12 % by
in India[5,6]. weight [10].
Polymer bitumen blend is a better binder
Table 1: Municipal Solid Waste in Indian compared to plain bitumen. Blend has increased
Cities [5] Softening point and decreased Penetration value
with a suitable ductility. When it used for road
Population Range Average Per
construction it can withstand higher temperature
(Millions) Capita Value (Kg)
and load. The coating of plastics reduces the
0.1-0.5 0.21 porosity, absorption of moisture and improves
soundness. The polymer coated aggregate bitumen
0.5-1.0 0.25 mix forms better material for flexible pavement
1.0-2.0 0.27 construction as the mix shows higher Marshall
Stability value and suitable Marshall Coefficient.
2.0-5.0 0.35 Hence the use of waste plastics for flexible
>5 0.5 pavement is one of the best methods for easy
disposal of waste plastics. Use of plastic bags in
CPCB has provided the data on total plastics road help in many ways like Easy disposal of waste,
waste consumption and comparison of per capita better road and prevention of pollution and so on[11].
plastic consumption in India during last decade. Polyethylene as one sort of polymers is used
Table 2 and Table 3 provide data on plastic to investigate the potential prospects to enhance
consumption in India and world[7,8,9]. asphalt mixture properties. The objectives also
include determining the best type of polyethylene
Table 2: Plastic Consumption in India to be used and its proportion. Two types of
polyethy-lene were added to coat the aggregate
Sr.no Year Consumption (Tones)
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Low
1 1996 61000 Density Polyethylene (LDPE). The Use of waste
polyethylene in bituminous concrete mixes results
2 2001 400000 indicated that grinded HDPE polyethylene modifier
3 2006 700000 provides better engineering properties. The
recommended proportion of the modifier is 12% by
4 2011 13500000 the weight of bitumen content. It is found to
increase the stability, reduce the density and
Table 3: Plastic Waste Consumption in slightly increase the air voids and the voids of
World (Per/Capita/Year) mineral aggregate[12].
Waste PET is powdered and mixed in
Sr. Country/Continent Per Year
proportions 2, 4, 6 , 8 and 10 % (by the weight of
No. Consumption (Kg)
OBC) with bitumen at temperature 150 0C. PET
1 India 14 modified binder resulted in higher resistance to
permanent deformation and higher resistance to
2 East Europe 10 rutting due to their higher softening point when
3 South East Asia 10 compared to conventional binders. Decrease in
consistency and increase in the resistance to flow
4 China 24 and temperature changes also appears in PET
5 West Europe 65 modified binder[13].
Study on the use of LDPE and CRMB reveals
6 North America 90 that the Marshal Stability value, which is the
7 World Average 25 strength parameter of SDBC has shown increasing
trend and the maximum values have increased by
3.0 Literature Review about 25 % by addition of LDPE and CRMB. The
Centre for Transportation Engineering, density of the mix has also increased in both the

Volume 2015-16 z Number 2 z July 2015 42

 Anurag V. Tiwari & Dr. Y R M Rao

cases of LDPE and CRMB when compared with 60/

3 Crushing Crushing IS : 2386
70 grade bitumen[14].
Value value (Part IV) -
apparatus 1963
4.0 Materials & Methods
4 Flakiness Flakiness IS 2386 (Part
4.1 Materials
Index gauge I 1963)
Materials required for construction of surface
course in flexible pavement are as follows: 5 Elongation Elongation IS 2386 (Part
Aggregates Index gauge I 1963)
Bitumen
6 Specific Pycnometer IS 2386 (Part
Plastic Waste as modifier
Gravity apparatus IV 1963)
Aggregates Aggregates used in surface course
Bitumen
can be divided into two types according to their size:
coarse aggregates and fine aggregates. Coarse 7 Penetration Standard IS : 1203-
aggregates are generally defined as those retained Test penetrometer 1978
on the 2.36 mm sieve. Fine aggregates are those
8 Softening Ring ball IS : 1205-
that pass through the 2.36 mm sieve and are
Point Test Apparatus 1978
retained on the 0.075 mm sieve. Aggregates
required for the research work will be procured 9 Viscosity Tar IS: 1206
from the local market. Test Viscometer (Part I) -
1978
Bitumen Bitumen acts as binding agent for
aggregates in bituminous mixes. Generally in India 10 Ductility Ductility IS : 1208-
bitumen used in road construction of flexible Test Apparatus 1978
pavement is of grades 60/70 or 80/100 penetration
11 Flash And Pensky- IS : 1209-
grade. Both the grade of bitumen confirming to BIS
Fire Point Martens 1978
standards will be used for the present studies.
Apparatus
Plastic Waste as modifier Modifiers are
Bituminous Concrete
generally used to enhance the properties of
bituminous concrete mixes by reducing the air void 12 Marshal Marshal IRC SP 53-
present between the aggregates and also to bind Stability test 1999 and
them together so that no bleeding of bitumen will Test apparatus ASTM D
occur. For the present study plastic waste such as 1559-1979
carry bags, water bottles, milk packets, glasses,
13 Compressive Universal ASTM D
cups, etc will be used as a modifier.
Strength Testing 1074 09
Test Machine
4.2 Characteristics of Materials
Details of properties to be studied for various 14 Indirect Universal ASTM D
materials are given below in the Table 4. Table 4 Tensile Testing 6931
also shows various apparatus required and Strength Machine
standards for the same. Test

Table 4: Details of test to be performed on 15 Shear Triaxial test

various materials Strength
Test
Sl. Test Apparatus Standards
No. Required 16 Drain Down Drain down AASHTO
Test test T305
Aggregate apparatus
1 Aggregate Impact IS : 2386
Impact testing (Part IV) - 4.3 Methodology
Value machine 1963 To achieve the Aim and Objectives of the study,
the following methodology will be adopted:
2 Abrasion Los angeles IS : 2386
Value abrsion (Part IV) - 4.4 Method of Mix Design
testing 1963 In general three bituminous mix design
machine methods are used:

Volume 2015-16 z Number 2 z July 2015 43


Conclusions and recommendations on the suitability and
limitations of plastic waste for blending with bitumen in
road construction will be drawn from test results
Fig. 2 : Details of general methodology to be
adopted
A. Marshall Method(widely used in India)
B. Hveem Method and
C. Superpave Method.
4.5 Process of laying bituminous concrete
road Mixed with Plastic waste
In general two methods are used for mixing of
plastic waste in bituminous concrete for road
construction:
A. Dry process and
B. Wet process
Dry process In this process the aggregates are
heated to 170C in the Mini hot Mix Plant. The
shredded plastic waste is added in proportion by
weight to the hot aggregate. This plastic gets coated
over the aggregate uniformly. Immediately the hot
Bitumen at 160C is added with the mixture. The
mixture is transferred to the road and the road is
laid.
Wet process In this process blending of waste
plastics by direct mixing of shredded plastics with
hot bitumen at 160C is done. Mechanical stirrer
is needed as the mixing is difficult because of
difference in viscosities of molten polymer and
bitumen. The mixture is transferred to the road and
the road is laid. Since the wet process requires a
lot of investment and bigger plants it is not
Volume 2015-16 z Number 2 z July 2015
Anurag V. Tiwari & Dr. Y R M Rao
commonly used.
5.0 Cost Analysis
Assuming Cost of plastics waste (collection,
segregation and processing) = Rs. 5 per Kg.
Cost of Bitumen per drum (200 Kg) =10000
Cost of Bitumen per Kg= 50
Cost of bitumen per ton =50000
Generally roads in India are constructed in basic
width of 3.75 m
Consider 1 Km length road
To lay 1km of road 10 tons of bitumen is required,
Cost of bitumen required per Km= Rs. 5,00,000
Assuming Optimum percentage of plastic as per the
test results of literature reviewed is around 10%
(by % wt. of bitumen)
Total quantity of bitumen required = 9 tons
Total quantity of plastic waste required = 1 ton
Cost of bitumen for 9 tons = Rs. 4,50,000
Cost of plastic waste = Rs. 5000
Total cost of bitumen and plastic = Rs. 4,55,000
Total savings = 5,00,000 - 4,55,000 = Rs.45,000 per
Km
6.0 Conclusion
The population growth, industrialization and
technological development have lead to
uncontrollable accumulation of waste and hence it
is necessary for environmental engineers to use
wastes materials effectively. Use of plastic waste
for modifying bitumen for road construction is an
idea which will save environment as well as cost of
construction of road. Let us hope that in near future
we will have durable and eco-friendly roads which
will reduce the earth from all type of plastic waste.
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