The Development of PVC-Tar and Lurgi Tar for Road Construction in South Africa

摘要

Coke-oven tar is available to the South African road industry from the steel industry (ISCOR) and is the most used road tar at present. Although Lurgi tar is at present only available in small quantities from Sasol I, it will soon be much more freely available for use in southern Africa as a binder in road construction, because of the large expansion of the oil-from-coal industry (Sasol II and Sasol III). The availability, coupled with both the economic implications and the future supply of crude oil in the short, medium and long-term, necessitated a concerted research program on the improvement of both coke-oven and Lurgi road tar. The objectives of this paper are as follows: (a) To discuss the relevant properties of PVC-coke-oven tar and Lurgi tar as produced in South Africa; (b) To give an overview of past and present research on PVC-tar and Lurgi tar; (c) To discuss laboratory results and experimental field performance of both coke-oven and Lurgi road tars; (d) To outline future developments and research in respect of Lurgi tar.