Construction of asphalt pavements, which are the most common type of pavements in the world, is heavily reliant on various non-renewable resources such as aggregates and petroleum-based asphalt binders. A crucial step toward developing a sustainable transportation infrastructure is reducing this dependency and shrinking the environmental footprint of the industry by replacing asphalt binders with alternative sustainable materials. Production of asphalt binders is known as the most energy demanding process involved in asphalt pavement construction, consuming over 40% of the energy in the industry. This results in release of substantial quantities of greenhouse gases, the main contributor toward climate change. This, along with steady increase in the price of asphalt binder due to higher demand, lower production and diminishing resources, warranted various studies to find sustainable alternatives for asphalt binders. One potential group of materials for this purpose are bio-binders. Bio-binders are made through processing of bio-oils, which are produced through thermochemical liquefaction of various biomass feedstocks. Due to variability of the source biomass, these bio-binders have varying properties, and require in-depth investigations. Majority of studies in this field have reported that bio-binders and their blends with asphalt binders (bio-asphalts) suffer from severe aging, hence, recommended limiting the replacement ratio of these materials to minimize the impact of this problem.This study was aimed toward evaluating the possibility of replacing substantial quantities of asphalt binder with bio-binders, and involved conducting thorough physical, rheological, chemical and performance evaluation of bio-binders and bio-asphalts. Four different bio-binders sourced from switchgrass, oakwood, and two blends of pine wood were used in this study. Results confirmed that all bio-asphalts are experiencing severe aging, which results in deterioration of the low-temperature properties of bio-asphalts. Hence, a practical method was sought for improving the low-temperature properties of bio-asphalts. This method, which was based on adjusting the properties of the aged bio-asphalts to match with the properties of aged base asphalt binder, involved addition of small quantities of rejuvenator to the bio-asphalts, and was found to be able to successfully offset the changes in properties of the bio-asphalts due to severe aging of the bio-binders. While having comparable long-term aged properties, the rejuvenator-modified bio-asphalts were found to be significantly softer than the base binder, which could be translated to lower construction and compaction temperatures, further reducing the energy demand of the asphalt pavement construction.Chemical experiments revealed that the upgrading process reduced the water and light-weight components content of the bio-oil significantly. Bio-binders were found to have significantly different chemical composition compared with conventional asphalt binders, having high water, low weight and polar molecule content. This significant difference between the chemical properties resulted in lack of chemical interaction between the two materials, hence, bio-asphalts were found to be a two-phased material, consisting of small droplets of bio-binders physically dispersed within the asphalt binder medium.Existence of free bio-binder particles can be problematic, as the bio-binders and asphalt binders have significantly different aging susceptibility. As the aged bio-binders were found to have highly different properties compared with asphalt binders, these aged droplets of bio-binder can affect the performance of mixtures made with bio-asphalts. Hence, a comprehensive mixture study was conducted to evaluate the performance of bio-asphalts in mixtures. Results of the study showed that bio-asphalt mixtures were in general showing less desirable properties at the same temperatures compared with the mixture made with conventional asphalt binders. This inferior performance was partly due to the softer nature of bio-asphalts compared with the base asphalt binder at the same temperatures. The softer nature of the bio-asphalt was caused by inclusion of rejuvenator to enhance the low-temperature properties of bio-asphalts. However, it was found that the mixtures made with bio-asphalts with no rejuvenator were less flexible compared with the control mixtures. This loss of flexibility can be due to the presence of severely aged bio-binder droplets in bio-asphalts, weakening the bond between aggregates and the bio-asphalts.Additional steps are required to facilitate the chemical interaction between asphalt binder and bio-binders, to eliminate the two-phase nature of bio-asphalts, which in turn can result in bio-asphalts with higher resistance to aging and better mixture performance.

Asphalt modification is an important area in the development of new road and pavement materials. There is an urgent demand for road materials that can minimize fracture at low temperatures and increase resistance to deformation at high temperatures. The function of asphalt is to bind aggregate to protect it from water and other harmful agents. In the beginning asphalt was ideal for this purpose, but recently traffic loads have increased and environmental factors have deteriorated more rapidly than before. Asphalt is a byproduct of crude oil in the refining process, and it is considered a complex heterogeneous mixture of hydrocarbons. Asphalt modification has become an important research area, using several methods and new materials as modifiers.

"Asphaltic binders that are used for asphalt pavements have been traditionally obtained either from fossil fuels or from natural sources. However, due to growing interest in sustainability, a search has been initiated for a non-petroleum binder that could be used for asphalt pavements. The objective of this study is to develop a modified asphalt binder from bio-refinery by-products and wastes that can be used as a replacement for bituminous adhesives/binders derived from fossil fuels for asphalt pavements. The chemical structures of the residue from fossil fuel processing and bio-fuel processing proved to be somewhat different. The Bio-Oil contains more oxygen (therefore, oxygen bearing organic functional groups, such as alcohols and ketones [-OH and C=O]). The Bio-Oil is more functionalized and polar in nature. Chemical structure studies were carried out by spectroscopic methods (nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)), infra-red, and thermal gravimetric analysis, as well as solubility in a series of solvents. Future work would involve (1) studying a wider variety of Bio-Oil derived samples, (2) employing further analytical techniques, and (3) determining how the Bio-Oils can be converted to chemical structures more similar ot the petroleum derived oils" (page i).

Sustainable Bioenergy and Bioproducts considers the recent technological innovations and emerging concepts in biobased energy production and coproducts utilization. Each chapter in this book has been carefully selected and contributed by experts in the field to provide a good understanding of the various challenges and opportunities associated with sustainable production of biofuel. Sustainable Bioenergy and Bioproducts covers a broad and detailed range of topics including: production capacity of hydrocarbons in the plant kingdom, algae, and microbes; biomass pretreatment for biofuel production; microbial fuel cells; sustainable use of biofuel co-products; bioeconomy and transportation infrastructure impacts and assessment of environmental risks and the life cycle of biofuels. Researchers, practitioners, undergraduate and graduate students engaged in the study of biorenewables, and members of the well-informed public will find Sustainable Bioenergy and Bioproducts to be a useful and comprehensive research tool, describing the state of the art and recent developments in this field.

High construction costs, when combined with awareness regarding environmental stewardship have encouraged the use of waste and renewable resources in asphalt modification. Increasing energy costs and the strong worldwide demand for petroleum have encouraged the development of alternative binders to modify or replace asphalt binders. The benefits of using alternative binders are that they can help save natural resources and reduce energy consumption while maintaining and in some cases improving asphalt performance. Common alternative binders include engine oil residue, bio-binder, soybean oil, palm oil, fossil fuel, swine waste, and materials from pyrolysis. Chemical compositions of the majority of these alternative binders are similar to those of unmodified asphalt binders (e.g. Resin, saturates, aromatics, and asphaltene). On the other hand, tests indicate the wide variability in the properties of alternative binders. Also, the chemical modification mechanism for asphalt with alternative binders depends clearly on the unmodified asphalt and is consequently not well understood. For energy sustainability, environment-friendly materials and an urgent need for infrastructure rehabilitation that more research is needed to evaluate the alternative binders for use in asphalt modification. The alternative binders should have moisture resistance and good aging characteristics.

The combination of global warming and urban sprawl is the origin of the most hazardous climate change effect detected at urban level: Urban Heat Island, representing the urban overheating respect to the countryside surrounding the city. This book includes 18 papers representing the state of the art of detection, assessment mitigation and adaption to urban overheating. Advanced methods, strategies and technologies are here analyzed including relevant issues as: the role of urban materials and fabrics on urban climate and their potential mitigation, the impact of greenery and vegetation to reduce urban temperatures and improve the thermal comfort, the role the urban geometry in the air temperature rise, the use of satellite and ground data to assess and quantify the urban overheating and develop mitigation solutions, calculation methods and application to predict and assess mitigation scenarios. The outcomes of the book are thus relevant for a wide multidisciplinary audience, including: environmental scientists and engineers, architect and urban planners, policy makers and students.

Pavement Engineering will cover the entire range of pavement construction, from soil preparation to structural design and life-cycle costing and analysis. It will link the concepts of mix and structural design, while also placing emphasis on pavement evaluation and rehabilitation techniques. State-of-the-art content will introduce the latest concepts and techniques, including ground-penetrating radar and seismic testing. This new edition will be fully updated, and add a new chapter on systems approaches to pavement engineering, with an emphasis on sustainability, as well as all new downloadable models and simulations.

This volume highlights the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of asphalt pavement technology, as presented by leading international researchers and engineers at the 5th International Symposium on Asphalt Pavements & Environment (ISAP 2019 APE Symposium), held in Padua, Italy on September 11-13, 2019. It covers a diverse range of topics concerning materials and technologies for asphalt pavements, designed for sustainability and environmental compatibility: sustainable pavement materials, marginal materials for asphalt pavements, pavement structures, testing methods and performance, maintenance and management methods, urban heat island mitigation, energy harvesting, and Life Cycle Assessment. The contributions, which were selected by means of a rigorous international peer-review process, present a wealth of exciting ideas that will open novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaboration among different specialists.

The urgent need for infrastructure rehabilitation and maintenance has led to a rise in the levels of research into bituminous materials. Breakthroughs in sustainable and environmentally friendly bituminous materials are certain to have a significant impact on national economies and energy sustainability. This book will provide a comprehensive review on recent advances in research and technological developments in bituminous materials. Opening with an introductory chapter on asphalt materials and a section on the perspective of bituminous binder specifications, Part One covers the physiochemical characterisation and analysis of asphalt materials. Part Two reviews the range of distress (damage) mechanisms in asphalt materials, with chapters covering cracking, deformation, fatigue cracking and healing of asphalt mixtures, as well as moisture damage and the multiscale oxidative aging modelling approach for asphalt concrete. The final section of this book investigates alternative asphalt materials. Chapters within this section review such aspects as alternative binders for asphalt pavements such as bio binders and RAP, paving with asphalt emulsions and aggregate grading optimization. - Provides an insight into advances and techniques for bituminous materials - Comprehensively reviews the physicochemical characteristics of bituminous materials - Investigate asphalt materials on the nano-scale, including how RAP/RAS materials can be recycled and how asphalt materials can self-heal and rejuvenator selection