Bitumen challenges and opportunities

摘要

Roads play an importanl role in contributing to the economic development and growth in a country, together with the social benefits. Roads open up areas and stimulate economic and social development, so they have a crucial on, and a vital role in, the development of national growth. The approximate length of the world's road network is 16.3 million km (with 5.5 million km in the EU, 4.5 million km in the US, and 3.2 million km in China). Now and then, every country has to deal with its road network depending on its needs, focussing either on the new links and/or maintenance of existing routes. More than 85% of the surfaced road connections around the globe feature asphalt in construction as this material offers a number of environmental and technical benefits. Asphalt road surfaces are also considered a sustainable option for road paving material where bitumen is used as binder as this material can be recycled. The bitumen, produced by the refineries, plays an important role in road durability which is also important for sustainability. In addition, durability and the ability to predict performance are also essential for new Green Public Procurement Systems, Public Private Partnerships and Functional Tendering Systems. As a result, it is important to find out the criteria influencing road performance by predicting the performance of the material itself used during construction.