Abstract
To decrease the environmental impact of bitumen, more sustainable binders should be proposed. This study emphasizes how industrial humins co-produced during the biorefining of carbohydrates can be employed as a macromolecular binder for bitumen. Humins are heterogeneous polyfuranic compounds, and they were mixed at 50 wt% with bitumen. When the non-water-soluble fractions of humins were employed (Hns), no variation of the chemical structure was observed in FTIR spectra after the mixing. The DSC investigations showed that the crystallization of aromatic fractions in bitumen shifted to higher temperature for humins’ modified bitumen. The thermogravimetric data highlighted that the presence of humins or Hns in bitumen can lead to mass loss below 200 °C. The rheological investigations highlighted some key advantages of using humins or Hns with bitumen. At high temperatures, the storage modulus of the modified bitumen is increased and shows lower susceptibility to variations in frequency. At low temperatures, the phase angle of Hns-modified bitumen is lower than that of bitumen, suggesting less temperature susceptibility as a consequence of a cross-linked network formation.
Highlights
Polymers 2022, 14, 1019. https://Nowadays, paving-grade bitumen is almost exclusively obtained as the vacuum residue of petroleum distillation
This study investigated the possibility of using crude humins or humins were employed (Hns) as a biobased binder to decrease the large consumption of bitumen
The Tg of bitumen is shifted to higher temperatures when mixed with humins or Hns, suggesting a partial interconnection between the two networks
Summary
Nowadays, paving-grade bitumen is almost exclusively obtained as the vacuum residue of petroleum distillation. About 95% of the bitumen produced is employed as a binder for mineral aggregates to form asphalt mixes used in the paving industry. The most critical properties for obtaining suitable bitumen are mainly rheological. Bitumen viscosity at high temperature (around 160 ◦ C) should be low enough to mix it with the aggregates. Obtaining these properties is quite complicated, and the use of additives and modifiers is more and more common [1]. Bitumen can be considered as being composed of four different fractions, called saturates, asphaltenes, resins, and aromatics (identified as the “SARA” fractions). Together with resins, are the most abundant constituent of bitumen.
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