Procedure to prepare bitumen and asphalt using the dust or ashes from steel mills collected and stored in silos or storage areas rather than disposed of in smoke through smokestacks

摘要

The invention concerns a new way of preparing the mixtures that make up bitumen and asphalt. Being waterproof, these substances protect wide areas of ground or parts of permeable constructions from the infiltration of water. Primarily artificial substances, they are normally prepared by mixing and impregnating crushed calcareous rock with natural tar or bitumen, whereas in the proposed method or procedure described and claimed, a new way has been found to make these mixes, by adding to the normal inert and active ingredients, the ashes or dust gathered to reduce smoke from steel mill furnaces, and where regulations dictate that the said ashes or dust must be disposed of being toxic, harmfuls and hence polluting.This new procedure, whereby these ashes or dust are introduced along with the other components in the bitumen or asphalt mix, consists primarily of the manufacture of: water-resistant products with better and more marked resistance to mechanical stress, especially when compared with items manufactured from standard bitumen and asphalt manufactured items currently in use; artificial bitumen and asphalt made from ingredients that confer improved workability to the mix; mixtures that for processing and application purposes, require formulations capable of reducing drying times.Thanks to the aforementioned characteristics, in addition to generating all the related advantages, the bitumen and asphalt obtained in the specified procedure also generate a further, significant benefit: large quantities of harmful dust, which would otherwise be difficult and expensive to eliminate, can be disposed of from steel mills.