A Study of Rubber-REOB Extender to Produce Sustainable Modified Bitumens

Abstract

Thanks to greater attention to the environment and the depletion of non-renewable resources, the sustainability and the circular economy have become crucial topics. The current trend of pavement engineering is to reduce the use of standard bitumen by replacing it with more sustainable materials such as industrial residues and by-products. In this regard, the present study aims to characterize innovative extended bitumen using recycled materials. Due to promising preliminary results as bitumen modifiers, the powdered rubber from end-of-life tires and the re-refined engine oil bottom (REOB) have been investigated as feasible components of bitumen extenders. Nevertheless, several variables strongly affect the performance of the resulting binder, which cannot be neglected. Hence, this research focuses on the rubber–REOB interaction in order to evaluate their optimum ratio, which may maximize the use and advantages of both recycled materials as suitable partial replacements for bitumen. Various rubber–REOB ratios were considered and investigated by means of low and high frequency nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers and scanning electron microscope (SEM).