Lignin modified bitumen

ABSTRACT
Lignin is one of the most abundant naturally occurring polymers
present in plant material. The chemical structure of lignin known to us
today does reflect the structure of bitumen and therefore it could be
used as partial substitute for bitumen. Lignin, as a major waste from
biofuel and paper industries, and is also generated from production of
hardwood, could be utilized as a modifier to enhance the relevant
performance (fatigue resistance, rutting resistance, viscosity,
penetration effect, softening point) of bitumen and reduce the carbon
dioxide emission.

Introduction
Bitumen is the most widely used in construction material for flexible
pavement obtained from crude oil. However, it also concerned about
future if petroleum refinery slows down [1]. Bio-based waste is used
to improve properties and environment sustainability of bitumen by
shifting from fossil-based resources to bio-based resources. Bio-based
resources are in favour from the sustainable point of view, they are
renewable and do not contribute to climate change as carbon dioxide
is captured from the atmosphere as a result of photosynthesis in the
original vegetal source[2]. As bitumen is produced from fossil
sources, the asphalt market is looking for alternatives with higher
sustainability in terms of carbon dioxide emission. The purpose of
using alternative sustainable binder is to partly replace the bitumen
and contribute to reduce carbon dioxide emission [3]. The alternative
polymer lignin is used as a partly alternative for bitumen that
originates from nature. Lignin is one of the second most abundant
natural polymers (next to cellulose and hemicellulose) and it is
present in plant material, part of vegetal biomass containing lignin can
be considered as waste material which is mainly obtained from wood,
paper and biofuel industry [4].
Materials and preparation
The lignin is a waste by product obtained during the production of
bio-ethanol from corncobs [5]. The corncob was treated
hydrothermally to breakdown the hemicellulose and obtain xylo-
oligosaccharides and the residue was collected and treated with an
alkaline solution to release lignin and produce cellulose rich residue
which served as feedstock of bio-ethanol [5].Compositional analyses
of corncobs have determined its constituents as 32.3–45.6% cellulose,
39.8% hemicellulose—mostly of pentosan, and 6.7–13.9% lignin [6].
For the preparation of lignin modified bitumen binders, lignin was
preheated for 2hr in draft oven at100°c to eliminate moisture content
[1]. After that lignin with different dosage (10, 20 and 30wt%) was
added to binder, which was also preheated to 140°c. The new lignin
modified bitumen system were sheared for 2hr by using a high-speed
shearing mixing device with 3000rpm shear speed at 160°c to ensure
the sufficient dispersion of lignin in bitumen [1].

Properties of bitumen
 Penetration test
Penetration test is conducted to measure the hardness of
bitumen, which measures the depth of penetration in tenth of
mm of a 100gm weighted needle penetrated into the bitumen
binder for 5second at temperature 25°c[5]. A higher penetration
value of penetration indicates the bitumen is softer while low
value of penetration indicates the bitumen is harder.

 Softening point
The softening point indicates the temperature at which the
binder change from solid to liquid. The softening point is
generally determined by the ring and ball test methods. In this
method, binder is poured into a brass ring of specified
dimensions and the sample prepared is suspended in a water
bath and a steel ball of specified dimensions and weight is
placed in the centre of the sample. The bath is heated at a
controlled rate and the temperature at the instant the steel ball
 reaches the bottom of the glass vessel or steel plate is recorded.
This temperature is termed the softening point [2].
 Ductility test
The Ductility test gives a measure of adhesive property of
bitumen and its ability to stretch. Ductility of bituminous
material is measured by distance in centimetres to which it will
elongate without breaking [2].
 FT-IR test
The functional groups in the sample can be identified by
conducting FT-IR test, the principle of which is that a kind
specific of infrared light with a certain frequency can only be
absorbed by a specific functional group. Hence, every functional
group has corresponding characteristic absorption band in the IR
spectrum. In the test process, the samples were dissolved in
toluene and then drop-cast onto a potassium bromide (KBr) salt
plate with a specific thickness. In this paper, the wavenumber
range was from 4000 to 400 cm-1 and the scan resolution was 1
cm-1.
 Rotational Viscosity Test
According to the standard rotational viscosity test procedure, a
Brookfield viscometer was used to measure the rotational
viscosity of bio-bitumen, which was determined by measuring
the resistance of a metal spindle spinning in a container filled
with the test sample at specific speeds.

 Dynamic shear rheometer test

To know about the high temperature performance of bio-
bitumen, the rutting factor was measured by using a dynamic
shear rheometer, the larger the rutting factor the better the high
temperature performance.
the fatigue factor of bio-bitumen was also measured by using a
dynamic shear rheometer test to investigate the fatigue
performance of bio-bitumen, and the smaller the fatigue factor
the better the fatigue resistance

Effect of lignin on different properties of bitumen

 Effect of lignin on density
 The density of lignin is 1.38g/cm3 which is larger than virgin
bitumen. The density of lignin modified bitumen rises with
increase of lignin dosage. When the lignin content varies from
10, 20 to 30%, the density rises slightly to 0.98 to 1.00, 1.04 and
1.05g/cm3 respectively [1]

 Effect of lignin on cohesive energy density

The cohesive energy density (CED) is an effective indication to
characterize the attractive interaction between molecules and
asses the cohesive ability of the substance. Bitumen with higher
CED value would poses superior cohesive strength. when lignin
content varies from 10, 20 and 30wt%, the CED values is
enhanced by 36.2, 45.4 and 47.4% respectively [1].

 Effect of lignin on rutting factor

In general, the complex shear modulus of the binders decreases
with the increase in temperature, while the phase angle increases
with increase in temperature. The rutting factor (G*/sin 𝛿) is the
indicator of bitumen’s ability to resist rutting. Higher (G*/sin 𝛿)
means better rutting resistance. (G*/sin 𝛿) increased for all test
temperature when lignin was added to the bitumen indicating
better rutting resistance [5].

Effect on properties with different dosage of lignin

Penetration Ductility Reading Softening point

reading reading
Standard bitumen 58 58 50

Bitumen blended 59 59 44
with 5% of lignin
Bitumen blended 60 60 47
with 10% of
lignin
Bitumen blended 50 50 49
with 15% of
lignin
Bitumen blended 35 35 60
 with 20% of
lignin
Bitumen blended 15 15 70
with 25% of
lignin

Result and Conclusion

Lignin increased the viscosity of the binder at higher and lower
temperature and also reduced the damage tolerance level of the
binder.

Lignin shows significant effects on improving the complex modulus

and rutting factor of bitumen, while adversely affects the fatigue
resistance. Meanwhile, lignin would increase the polar components
and reinforce the molecular interaction, resulting in the modulus
increase of bitumen.

At higher temperatures, the addition of lignin to the bitumen binder

increased the rutting resistance of the base binder; this was observed
from the DSR test results

The efficient use o lignin in making bitumen pavement will not only
reduce environmental pollution but also reduce the dependency on
petroleum bitumen and improve the efficiency of wood industry by
making use of unwanted waste by product. This will improve the
global economy in both the wood and bitumen industry.
Lignin which originates from Organoslov, Klason, SHS and Kraft are
miscible with the used bitumen fraction up to 25%

References
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