Improvement in Low Temperature-Properties of
Reclaimed Asphalt Binder Using Waste Engine Oil

Abstract—Low-Temperature
pavement crack are common
Pavement distress associated with higher percentages of Rap in
asphalt mixes at areas where temperature is very low. Higher Rap
percentages makes the asphalt binder Stiffer which causes permanent
Distresses such as low temperature cracking. One of the approach to
reduce the impact of higher Rap content on the mix is by using
Rejuvenator or softening agent.
In this study 4 and 8 percent of waste engine oil is manually mixed
with 25 and 50 percent of Rap at 150°c using glass rod. Optimum
percentage of Reclaimed binder and waste engine oil(WEO) was
selected using Penetration approach. The blend of 25 percent Rap and
4 percent waste engine oil was selected based on similarity of its
penetration value to grade 60-70 asphalt binder. Moreover, the
selected blend of 25 percent Rap and 4 percent waste engine oil was
simulated for short term ageing in lab using rolling thin film oven and
was further aged for long term using Pressure Ageing vessel (PAV)
for 24 Hours at 100°C. the residue of PAV was tested further for low
temperature cracks using bending beam rheometer. It was concluded
from test that 4 percent of waste engine oil was Improving low
temperature properties of Rap up to 25 percent.
Keywords— RAP, Rejuvenation, Waste Engine Oil, Low
temperature cracks, Bending beam rheometer (BBR),
Penetration.
G
I. INTRODUCTION
lobalization, population growth, and urbanization are
placing considerable strains on infrastructure around
the world. Advanced industrial economies like the
United States and Western Europe are focusing on repair and
replacement of their aging infrastructures. But the developing
world faces the more daunting task of creating new
transportation, communication, water, and energy networks to
foster economic growth, improve public health systems, and
reduce poverty [1]. Pakistan is developing economy and it is
developing its infrastructure by constructing network of
motorways and highways to improve connectivity within to
reduce travel time, reduce losses incurred to perishable items
and improve supply chains[2, 3]. With freight worth billions of
dollars moving from china toward Gwadar the prospect of
deterioration of highways increases which forces state
highway agencies to adopt a strategy that is cost effective [4],
therefore Developing countries like Pakistan are opting for
pavement preservation techniques instead of pavement
reconstruction[5]. One of the strategy of rehabilitation is to
recycle old asphalt pavement which can not only conserve
resources but can also have environmental benefits[6].
According to federal highway authority (FHWA) an estimated
100.1 million ton of asphalt is
milled each year in United State of America (USA)[7]. In
Pakistan during rehabilitation of Islamabad-Lahore motorway

an estimated 0.55 million of RAP was milled from stretch of
357 km, utilizing this RAP in hot mix asphalt can be beneficial
not only in term of monetary value but it can also help
conserve natural sources by minimizing mining for aggregate,
decrease emission in atmosphere and preserve ecological
cycle[8, 9]. According to an estimate majority of the states in
U.S utilize on average 10% to 20% of RAP in mix design of
Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) [10]. While in Pakistan the allowable
limit of RAP in asphalt concrete wearing course(ACWC) is 20
percent[11]. The problem such as low temperature cracking
and fatigue are associated with higher RAP percentages. Imad
qadi reported that as RAP was increased more than 20 percent
and up to 30 percent the potential for thermal cracking was
increased[12]. In order to deal with issues associated with
higher rap content Recycling agent or softening agent such as
waste engine oil shall be used which can not only restore
properties of aged asphalt binder but also tackle the issues
such as low temperature cracking[13, 14].
II.MATERIAL SELECTION
In Pakistan refineries provide various penetration grade
asphalt binder to pavement industry, moreover in majority of
areas in Pakistan asphalt binder of penetration grade 60-70 is
used therefore in this study asphalt binder of penetration grade
60-70 acquired from Pak-Arab Oil Refinery ltd (PARCO).
RAP acquired from thalian on Islamabad-Lahore motorway
(M-2). Waste engine oil (WEO) was provided by Frontier
works Organization (FWO) having millage of 6000 km. the
brand of waste engine oil was Caltex chevron Delo.
III. METHODOLOGY
In this study virgin Asphalt binder 60-70 was mixed with 25
and 50 percent of Reclaimed asphalt binder, Reclaimed
asphalt binder was further mixed with 4 and 8 percent of WEO
per total weight of binder. Aged binder was extracted from
RAP by adopting AASHTO T-160” Quantitative extraction of
Bitumen from Paving Mixture”. The extracted bitumen was
separated from Dichloromethylene(DCM) solution by
AASHTO T-170 “Recovery of Asphalt from Solution by
Abson Method”. The reclaimed asphalt binder was manually
stirred with WEO and 60-70 asphalt binder continuously with
glass rod for 20 minutes at temperature of 150°C. Penetration
approach was adopted to select optimum RAP, WEO and 6070 asphalt binder blend. Optimum softening agent Content is
minimum percentage at which the aged binder behaves
similarly to virgin Asphalt binder physically, rheologically.
The selected blend with WEO is first short term aged in
Rolling thin film Oven (RTFO) for 85 minutes at 163°C and
then residue of RTFO was aged further in Pressure ageing
vessel (PAV) for 20 hours at 100°C. the residue of PAV is then
tested in bending beam rheometer for low temperature cracks.
with WEO
IV. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
A. Effect of waste engine oil (WEO) on Penetration,
Softening Point and Rotational Viscosity(RV)
Total of 72 sample were tested for penetration, softening point
and rotational viscosity(RV) and the results obtained are
shown in Table 1. The results obtained indicate that with
addition of 25% RAP to virgin binder the penetration value of
blend decreases which means that RAP is making the blend
stiffer however when the RAP content was further increased to
50% the penetration value decreases further which indicates
that as RAP is increases blend is getting stiffer. By
incorporating WEO in blend the penetration value of blend
increases which means that WEO is making the blend softer,
same has been reported by ‘ Dokandari and Villanueva’[15,
16]
TABLE I
PENETRATION, SOFTENING POINT AND RV OF RAP MODIFIED WITH WEO
Sample Type
Sample
Code
Penetration
Softening
Point
60-70
60-70
66
49
Rotational
Viscosity
(135°C)
562.5
100% RAP
R100
18
81
1997
60-70+25 Percent Rap
R25W0
45
64
710
6070+25%RAP+4%WEO
R25W4
64
51
567.5
6070+25%RAP+8%WEO
R25W8
75
47
501.3
60-70+50% RAP
R50 W0
28
72
1450
60-70+50%RAP+4%WEO
60-70+50%RAP+8%WEO
R50W4
R50W8
33
46
65
61
1250
1205
Fig. 1 Comparison of Penetration of Virgin 60-70 and RAP modified
with WEO
Fig. 3 Comparison of Softening Point of Virgin 60-70 and RAP
modified with WEO
B. Selection of optimum Modifier
Based on Penetration, Softening Point and Rotational
Viscosity Test it was observed that a blend of 25 percent RAP
and 4 percent waste engine oil can behave similar to Virgin
Asphalt binder 60-70.
C.Bending Beam Rheometer results
BBR apparatus is used to measure low temperature grade of
PAV aged asphalt binder. m and S are two parameter which is
provided by BBR software. m is the slope or creep rate and S
is creep stiffness. The minimum threshold value of m is 0.300
and max threshold value of S is 300.
1) Effect of temperature on creep rate (m) and Creep
Stiffness(S)
Table II shows that as temperature decreases from -6 to -18 the
m value decreases and the value of S Increases. The decrease
in m value and increase in S value shows that asphalt binder is
getting stiffer and more prone to low temperature cracks.
Moreover, m and S value of 60-70 and R25W4 is almost in
same range hence point to the fact that 4 percent waste engine
oil had rejuvenate 25 percent of RAP. Comparison of creep
rate of 60-70, R25W4 is shown graphically in a figure 4 and
figure 5.
Table II : Creep Slope and Creep Stiffnessof RAP modified with Waste Engine
Oil
M
S
Sample
Sample Type
Temperature
(Creep
(Creep
Code
Slope)
Stiffness)
-6
0.5281
59.5368
60-70
25%RAP+4%WEO
Fig. 2 Comparison of RV (135°C) of Virgin 60-70 and RAP modified
60-70
R25W4
-12
0.3436
128.6479
-18
0.2213
203.4536
-6
0.5496
52.817
-12
0.3507
69.7306
-18
0.2241
110.6235
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Figure .1 Comparison of Creep slope of Virgin 60-70 and R25W4
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Figure. 5 Comparison of Creep Stiffness of Virgin 60-70 and R25W
15.
V. CONCLUSION
16.

Based on extensive lab testing it is concluded that 4
percent waste engine oil can act as recycling agent or
softening agent as it successfully restores physical
and rheological property of 25 percent reclaimed
asphalt binder. The main point concluded from this
study is as below.
 Penetration value decreases with increase in
RAP content which mean that RAP is
making the blend stiffer.
 Penetration value increases with increase in
waste engine oil content which mean that
waste engine oil is softening aged asphalt
binder.
 Penetration value of 25 percent RAP mixed
with 4 percent waste engine oil is similar to
60-70.
 Creep rate (slope) decrease with increase in
temperature which point to increase
potential of binder to thermal crack as
temperature is decrease.
 creep stiffness increases with increase in
temperature which point to increase
potential of binder to thermal crack as
temperature is decrease.
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