Archives Sustainable Asphalt

ACADEMIA

First International Meeting of the CAS BITAFAL – UM

Since its creation, the BITAFAL – UM Sustainable Asphalt Chair has been developing various activities to disseminate advances in technological innovations and products, pointing towards sustainable road construction.

In this sense, in November we organized the first international meeting of the chair called “Warm mixtures: learning for successful management.” The event was held in the halls of the UM Faculty of Engineering and featured a panel of prominent specialists such as engineer Ángel Sampedro from the Alfonso el Sabio University of Spain (UAX), engineer Juliano Gewehr from Ingevity in Brazil, the Argentine global expert Mario Jair and our directors Santiago and Ignacio Kröger.

Before a large gathering of students, Alumni graduates and representatives from other universities, the experts analyzed the results that have been obtained in the countries that are most advanced in the matter, the advantages they present in terms of durability, reduction of impact and costs, and the opportunities for improvement that arise from their analysis with a view to greater use of them in the future.

The meeting was held in person and via streaming, which generated a large audience and laid the foundations to repeat the experience in the coming months.

WORKS

Try AC30 MAX in El Pinar

In the first days of November, we carried out an important warm mixture application test together with the Municipality of Canelones and the GRINOR company on Aparicio Saravia Street in El Pinar Norte. The test consisted of the application of a mixture with AC30 MAX asphalt, which allowed the mixing, laying and compaction temperature to be reduced by 40°C.

Those responsible for the General Directorate of Works of the Canary Islands were present at the event, who were able to verify the advantages of using this product, which requires less energy for its manufacture, improves the compactability of the mixture and allows rapid release to traffic. and most importantly, it reduces the occupational risks of the team that uses it since there are almost no fumes present and the temperatures are significantly lower.

Our Transformation and Strategy Manager Ignacio Kröger recalled that this application is the first to be carried out at the municipal level throughout the country, pointing out that “we appreciate this Municipality's openness to testing new technologies. We are betting that a standard is generated and that the temperature of all construction sites in Uruguay can be reduced to 40°C, which means reduced emissions, improvements in air quality for workers, etc. “This technology impacts sustainability at all levels.”

Along with the BITAFAL and GRINOR team, students from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Montevideo were present, who, through the BITAFAL – UM Sustainable Asphalt Chair, are carrying out their final degree project, in an area of great impact on the society such as road construction.

VALENCIA HURTS US

01 November 2024
in: News
Tags: Sustainable asphalts, climate change, Monthly ArchivesFebruary 2022 - Grupo Bitafal, roads

Climate change and its impact on roads

The images shocked us all. In a few hours, tragedy took hold of the Valencian community. The formation of an Isolated Depression at High Levels (DANA) generated an unprecedented volume of precipitation, dumping the equivalent of a year's rain on the area in a few hours.

The human toll is the most terrible; More than 200 people lost their lives. The material losses are incalculable at the moment. And the damage to the road infrastructure will require very rapid actions to be able to reestablish circulation in several areas, with highways cut off, highways and roads seriously affected, and an entire mobility network collapsed.

Climate change is a reality that increasingly affects the daily lives of populations in different parts of the planet. The actions taken aimed at sustainability are key to being able to mitigate its impact and begin to generate a new reality, which will undoubtedly take many years to be reflected in a recovery of the environmental quality that we had not long ago.

And what does the road industry have to do in that sense? A lot.

The construction of road infrastructure as a segment within the civil engineering sector has been taking giant steps in the incorporation of techniques and procedures that reduce environmental impact and that can save great costs for governments and the entire planet.

The recycling of asphalt, a material that can be reused infinite times, the reduction of temperatures in the application of asphalt through the use of warm mixtures, the use of modified asphalt that is specially designed to resist extreme temperatures, both cold and hot, The use of water-based asphalt emulsions and the incorporation of waste from other industries that are difficult to recycle, such as rubber or glass, are just some of the measures that can be quickly implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, temperatures used in the production and laying processes and the impact on quarry materials.

National authorities, universities, students and, above all, members of the industry must become aware that what hurts us today in Valencia will surely be a repeated phenomenon in other parts of the planet. And that the decision to change is in our hands.

PRESENT AT THE 3rd SUSTAINABLE URUGUAY EXPO

28 June 2024
in: News
Tags: Sustainable asphalts, Event, innovation

BITAFAL organized a high-level forum on “Sustainable Roads”

Sustainability is a concept strongly incorporated into our vision and our actions. For this reason, within the framework of the 3rd Sustainable Uruguay Expo of the Ministry of the Environment, we organized a forum to analyze from many different angles the progress that our industry has been registering in this regard.

The event, held at the Antel Arena, with the presence of the Undersecretary of the Environment Gerardo Amarilla and a prominent panel of specialists made up of the National Director of Roads Hernán Ciganda, the Director of Environmental Planning of the Ministry of the Environment Silvana Martínez, the expert in roads of the Chamber of Construction Juan Echeverz and the Technical Director of BITAFAL Santiago Kröger.

As a trigger for reflection, the Bitafal team presented a video made by Artificial Intelligence, where the connection between the world of road construction, the environment and sustainable management was raised.

Subsequently, and before an audience made up of business and public representatives of the sector, technicians and students, the panelists advanced on the different aspects linked to sustainability in road construction. The recycling of construction materials on the routes themselves, the use of asphalt mixtures at lower temperatures and techniques with asphalt emulsions, as well as the incorporation of problematic waste from other industries, such as glass sand, vehicle tires or steel slag. , are elements that are already used in Uruguayan road production, in a process that has been growing in recent years and of which Bitafal is a prominent protagonist.

THE BITAFAL SUSTAINABLE ASPHALT CHAIR IS BORN – UM

30 April 2024
in: #CAS,News
Tags: Sustainable asphalts, Bitafal, CAS, events, launch

The University of Montevideo together with BITAFAL, announced the creation of the BITAFAL – UM Sustainable Asphalt Chair.

This initiative was born with the vision of creating a bridge between industry and academia, the public and private sectors, with the purpose of promoting applied research in the field of sustainable asphalts and promoting the dissemination of said knowledge.

In the facilities of the UM Faculty of Engineering and before a packed auditorium, BITAFAL's Transformation and Strategy Manager Ignacio Kröger highlighted the project, which aims at sustainability in road construction, taking care of all its dimensions. “We want Uruguay to produce more and better roads at lower economic and environmental costs,” he stressed, while highlighting values such as trust and collaboration as central elements of the proposal, which is open for the participation of students from other universities and from other companies. And finally, addressing the students, he indicated “this is a projection that points to the future, and that begins today.”

The event was attended by the Minister of Transportation and Public Works José Luis Falero, the Undersecretary of the Environment Gerardo Amarilla, the highest authorities of the UM, directors of BITAFAL, experts such as Engineer Lucio Cáceres, graduates and students of the Faculty of Engineering, which will soon be integrated into the world of road construction.

The Dean of the UM Faculty of Engineering, Engineer Rafael Sotelo, appreciated the interest aroused by the initiative among engineers and students of that university, indicating that “in a few hours after having announced internally the birth of the Chair we already had the interest of many students and graduates, who are going to participate and assure us of the success of the project.”

The chair will be a reference and consultation center for all participants, and the development of several research projects has already been announced, for which BITAFAL will enable their experimentation and application in upcoming road developments in the country.

Tag Archives: Archives Sustainable Asphalt