Description

The asphalt industry faces major challenges, including the need for pavements that last longer and are more sustainable, as traditional asphalt production is costly and has a high environmental impact. To address this, researchers have been exploring modified asphalt binders such as rubber, charcoal, and waste cooking oil, which have shown promise in extending the lifespan, resistance to deformation, and durability of asphalt pavements. In addition, governments and industries are investing in the use of recycled and “green” materials to reduce the carbon footprint and environmental degradation of conventional asphalt mixtures. Building on this momentum, this study investigates the performance of a low-carbon modifier consisting of a composite of sulfur, biochar, and waste cooking oil in the conventional hot mix asphalt mixture with 25% reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). The modifier was introduced at 10% and 20% by the total weight of the asphalt binder, representing an asphalt mixture with 11.5% and 22.4% reduction in carbon footprint compared to typical asphalt binder, following Park et al. (2024). To understand how these lower-carbon mixtures perform in the real world, researchers used two standard tests: the Indirect Tensile Asphalt Cracking Test (IDEAL-CT) and Hamburg Wheel Tracking Test (HWT), which examined the fracture (cracking) and rutting resistance of the resulting mixtures, respectively. Extended thermal aging and UV aging were applied to study the effect of long-term aging on each scenario. Two types of aging are used, long-term aging following NCHRP (Report 973) and UV aging following Rajib and Fini (2020). The study results showed that introducing the low-carbon modifier led to less reduction in resistance to aging as measured by fracture resistance and rutting durability compared to the control scenario. This means that they maintained stronger resistance to cracking and rutting even after aging while also reducing the carbon footprint of the mixture by up to 22.4%. This research demonstrates that meaningful reductions in the carbon footprint of asphalt pavements can be achieved without compromising long-term structural performance or durability, supporting more sustainable and resilient transportation infrastructure.

Publication Date

6-11-2026

Publication Type

Report

Topic

Transportation Technology, Sustainable Transportation and Land Use

Digital Object Identifier

10.31979/mti.2026.2522

MTI Project

2522

Keywords

Polymer asphalt, hot mix asphalt (HMA), reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), asphalt additives, asphalt mixtures

Disciplines

Infrastructure | Transportation

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