Description
The affordability, durability, and ease of processing of plastics makes this material an appealing and almost unavoidable choice for diverse applications. These advantages increased the demand for plastics and consequently enhanced their productivity and growth. However, waste-plastic generation in the United States has increased tenfold since the 1960s and in 2021 contributed 35.4 million metric tons (MMT). This amount is around 10% of the global plastic production and constitutes 12.2% of the total generated municipal solid waste (MSW). Only 3 MMT of plastic waste is recycled, while more than 26 MMT is placed in landfills.
Obtaining asphalt binder from nonpetroleum-based feedstock or repurposing plastic waste currently landfilled is one of the alternatives to effectively meet the needs of the asphalt concrete (AC) industry. An experimental program was designed that considered preprocessing (various shapes and sizes) and blending conditions (shear rate, duration, and temperature) for various plastic types to produce stable plastic-modified binder.
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