Title: The potential application of palm kernel shells and waste plastics in asphaltic mix for sustainable pavement construction

Abstract

The depletion of the natural aggregate due to the high demand for road and building construction requires alternative materials to replace natural aggregates (NA). Ghana produces approximately 1.7 million tons of plastic waste annually with only about 2 % being recycled. Palm kernel shells (PaKS) and waste plastics (WP) have been investigated individually as a partial replacement for natural aggregate and as binder respectively. But a performance evaluation of the combination of these two has not been tested. This project has the objective to evaluate an asphaltic mix consisting of PaKS and its potential application for road pavement. The study investigated the potential of using PaKS as a partial replacement for NA and WP as an additive binder. The obtained optimum bitumen content was used to prepare the modified asphalt samples by replacing the NA with PaKS at 0% 10%, 20%, and 40%. The WP which was added as an additive was varied from 0%, 2%, 4%, 6% 8% and 10%. The physical and volumetric properties of the different asphaltic mixes (AM) were determined using the Marshall Method. The split tensile and water susceptibility of some selected composites were also determined. At 5.2 % optimum bitumen content, the Marshall Stability value of the different mix trails increased from 4.2 kN to 25 kN and the flow value increased from 2.2.0 mm to 5.0 mm. the compressive strength for the different trial mixes was in the range of 3 – 5.8 Nmm2 and the split tensile strength of the unconditioned samples in the range of 0.3 – 0.55 Pa. The novelty of incorporating agro-processing waste and waste plastics into asphalt mix can bring cost savings in road construction and effective waste management. It is recommended that to ascertain the practical applicability of the composite materials, further testing and field trial are needed.

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