Experimental study of soda lignin powder as an asphalt modifier for a sustainable pavement material

Department

Construction Management

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-6-2021

Abstract

In recent years, lignin has been receiving more coverage as an asphalt modifier because of its wide variety of sources, low price, renewability, and potential to improve the performance of asphalt pavement. This research aims to develop lignin-modified asphalt by adding soda lignin powder in different proportions to overcome some drawbacks of traditional modified asphalt. A series of tests, including empirical, viscosity, rutting, fatigue, cracking, storage stability, and chemical tests, were performed to determine the influence of soda lignin on asphalt binder. Test results revealed that the addition of lignin helps to reduce the temperature sensitivity of the asphalt by increasing its hardness and decreasing its ductility. At the same time, the incorporation of soda lignin powder also increased the viscosity of base asphalt with the increase in lignin content. Furthermore, rheological performance test results revealed that the addition of soda lignin significantly enhanced the rutting resistance and fatigue performance for all the dosages incorporated. And also, a slight reduction in low-temperature cracking performance was observed. In addition, the storage stability test result depicted that the dispersion of lignin powder in asphalt was comparatively uniform and stable, indicating excellent thermal storage stability for all the lignin amounts incorporated. Moreover, chemical test results suggest that the soda lignin and bitumen can be mixed physically without new chemicals.

Journal Title

Construction and Building Materials

Journal ISSN

09500618

Volume

298

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.123884

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