A STUDY OF NIGERIA NATURAL BITUMEN AND EFFECT OF POLYMER MODIFICATION ON THE BINDER PROPERTIES

摘要

This research assessed the performance of natural bitumen binder extracted from tar sand and the effect of polymer addition on the binder properties of the extracted bitumen. The polymers used in this research are WasteWater Sachets (WWS) and shredded Waste PET bottles (SWPB). The natural bitumen was extracted from Tar sand collected at two surface outcrops along the Dahomey Basin in Imeri town along Sagamu Benin Expressway, IjebuImushin, South West, Nigeria (6 0 47' 36.1" N and 3 0 59' 30.1" E). The average percen tage weight of bitumen extracted from samples from the two locations are 13.38% and 7.1%. The major constituent of Tar Sand is Fine Sand. The extracted bitumen is light, with specific gravity value of 0.57 compared with the British Standard range of 0.97 to 1.02 of conventional bitumen. The bitumen was graded 85/100 pen. There was a trend of decrease in value of Penetration, increase in value of softening point and viscosity as the polymers were incrementally added. The results show that, the natural bitumen can be modified to 60/70 bitumen and with satisfactory softening and flash point at 1.5% addition of SWPB and 0.1% WWS. The natural bitumen can be used as liquid Asphalt.