Evaluation of an eastern shale oil residue as an asphalt additive

摘要

An evaluation of eastern shale oil (ESO) residue as an asphalt additive to reduce oxidative age hardening and moisture susceptibility was conducted by Western Research Institute (WRI). The ESO residue, have a viscosity of 23.9 Pa(lg bullet)s at 60(degree)C (140(degree)F), was blended with three different petroleum-derived asphalts, ASD-1, AAK-1, and AAM-1, which are known to be very susceptible to oxidative aging. Rheological and infrared analyses of the unaged and aged asphalts and the blends were then conducted to evaluate oxidative age hardening. In addition, the petroleum-derived asphalts and the blends were coated onto three different aggregates, Lithonia granite (RA), a low-absorption limestone (RD), and a siliceous Gulf Coast gravel (RL), and compacted into briquettes. Successive freeze-thaw cycling was then conducted to evaluate the moisture susceptibility of the prepared briquettes. The rheological analyses of the unaged petroleum-derived asphalts and their respective blends indicate that the samples satisfy the rutting requirement. However, the aging indexes for the rolling thin film oven (RTFO)-aged and RTFO/pressure aging vessel (PAV)-aged samples indicate that the blends are stiffer than the petroleum-derived asphalts. This means that when in service the blends will be more prone to pavement embrittlement and fatigue cracking than the petroleum-derived asphalts. Infrared analyses were also conducted on the three petroleum-derived asphalts and the blends before and after RTFO/PAV aging. In general, upon RTFO/PAV aging, the amounts of carbonyls and sulfoxides in the samples increase, indicating that the addition of the ESO residue does not mitigate the chemical aging (oxidation) of the petroleum-derived asphalts. This information correlates with the rheological data and the aging indexes that were calculated for the petroleum-derived asphalts and the blends.