Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Open Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Civil Engineering (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering

Advisor 1

Zhanping You

Committee Member 1

Robert Handler

Committee Member 2

Patricia Heiden

Committee Member 3

David Shonnard

Abstract

The generation of waste plastics is continuing to grow year after year which can also provide valuable opportunities for researchers in different areas to find new applications that will eliminate their potential risks to environment and human health. For instance, in 2022 alone, global plastic production was increased to a remarkable 400.3 million metric tons, showing a 1.6 percent rise from 2021. Another notable example is the waste plastics from electronic waste (e-waste) sources which constitute up to 20% of e-waste streams. The advancement of global economies and technology has resulted in a notable increment of the volume of electronics each year, and e-waste is the fastest-increasing waste category across the globe. At the same time, the growing interest in integrating waste plastics into asphalt arises from its potential to improve the sustainability of road infrastructure, yield economic advantages, and enhance performance, particularly in resisting rutting deformations. Despite numerous studies on the use of plastics from e-waste and household sources for asphalt, there have been some major limitations that made the researchers hesitant to promote their use in larger scales. Poor compatibility between asphalt and plastics, and lower cold-weather and fatigue cracking resistance pose major limitations. Thus, this study aims to present a novel, cost-effective, and practical approach for recycling some of the most common plastics in asphalt construction by focusing on two major steps in the modification process of asphalt: Physical pretreatment methods for the preparation of plastics prior to mixing with asphalt; Incorporation of complementary additives to improve the compatibility and overall performance. Hence, up to 10% of asphalt binder was replaced by plastics and other complementary additives, and different rheological tests were conducted. Finally, a life cycle assessment (LCA) study was conducted using Simapro software to compare conventional and plastic modified asphalt in terms of their environmental impacts. The results demonstrated that proper preparation procedures for plastics and the addition of complementary additives such as carbon black and wax products contribute to improved asphalt performance in terms of cold-weather, high-temperature, and fatigue behavior. Furthermore, LCA impact assessment results indicated that incorporating recycled plastics minimize the environmental impacts linked to production of asphalt in comparison with conventional asphalt and asphalt modified with commercially available plastics, pointing out to the pivotal role of opting for recycled plastics over commercially available ones to enhance the overall sustainability of asphalt construction.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Available for download on Tuesday, December 02, 2025

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