Crumb rubber modified bituminous emulsions. CRE-emulsions

Nowadays crumb rubber is one of the major environmental wastes. One possible
way to reuse this waste could be in the formulation of modified bitumen emulsions.
The main objective of the study is to formulate crumb rubber modified emulsions with high
storage stability, improved properties than conventional emulsions and better properties than
polymer modified emulsions formulated with SBS.
For its manufactured we did not use a colloidal mill, instead of that we used a system known as
HIPE ( High Internal Phase Emulsion) where we work in laminar regime with inversion phase,
high viscosity, low revolutions and low temperature and for the internal phase.
This paper summarizes the manufactured conditions used to formulate this kind of new
emulsions as well as its main characteristics. The study was conducted comparing different
modified emulsions formulated with conventional polymers such as SBS and modified
emulsions formulated with crumb rubber.
In conclusion we can say that a new generation of modified emulsions formulated with
crumb rubber is possible. They have high storage stability, improved properties over
conventional emulsions such as better ductility and plasticity.