Inaugural academia partner asphalt and bitumen technology webinar

Europe |

The Road Engineering Research Section, RERS, of Eurobitume Associate Member (Academia) the University of Antwerp recently staged and provided the content for a very interesting asphalt and bitumen technology webinar for Eurobitume members, organised by Eurobitume’s Technical Committee.

Eurobitume Technical Committee Chair Vicente Perez, from CEPSA, opened what is intended to be the first in a series of knowledge-sharing technical webinars with bitumen industry stakeholders from academia. He welcomed the more than 30 participants and then handed over to Professor Dr Wim Van den bergh from the university’s RERS - which is part of their Energy and Materials in Infrastructure and Buildings, EMIB, research group.

Professor Van den bergh highlighted some of the excellent sustainability-related research undertaken within the EMIB research group, including:

  • the REjuveBIT project, which assessed the application of rejuvenating agents in the asphalt sector and how this increased the recycling percentage of reclaimed asphalt
  • FOAM, a project investigating the use of bitumen foaming technology in the in-situ recycling of the asphalt base layer

He also outlined their strategic vision for sustainability assessment and their work to increase sustainability in asphalt and bitumen technology.

Next, PhD researcher Georgios Pipintakos then gave his insights into the ageing of bitumen. He also explained how the university’s RERS works with a network of fellow researchers and highlighted the wealth of current and future research project opportunities where the webinar participants could collaborate.

Finally, Professor Dr. Johan Blom summarised the university’s ongoing ‘deep dive’ research into the relationship between bitumen’s microstructure and chemistry-rheology, which includes exploring whether there is a link between bitumen's ageing fundamentals and its performance.

He also presented new evidence, gathered by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), on the origin of ‘bee structures’ in bitumen and oils.

The last element of the webinar was a lively discussion and networking session, after which Vicente Perez closed the webinar and extended his thanks to the University of Antwerp’s RERS/EMIB.

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