Rheology and mix performance of rejuvenated high RAP field produced hot mix asphalt with a soybean derived rejuvenator

A laboratory study was conducted to determine the optimum dosage of a bio-based rejuvenator, epoxidised methyl soyate (EMS), needed to obtain a mix design containing 30% unfractionated recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) using a neat asphalt binder with performance grade (PG) 58-28S, rated for standard traffic to meet performance criteria for a PG 58-28S. Based on running a comprehensive rheological characterisation using Superpave binder criteria, 3% EMS by weight of the neat binder was needed to obtain a PG 58-28S at proportions of (75.5% neat binder w/ 3% EMS, and 24.5% RAP extracted binder). The 3% EMS is equivalent to 0.126% by weight of the total mix. Through lab verification, the mix design with 0.126% EMS was shown to meet performance criteria for moisture susceptibility/rutting and low temperature cracking. Field produced mix with 0.126% EMS by weight of total mix was also shown to pass the performance criteria as well for the aforementioned properties. However, the field produced control mix with 20% RAP was not shown to pass criteria for low temperature at −18°C, and thus the field produced control mix became rated as a PG 64-22S. In addition, field density was checked for both the control mix and EMS RAP mix, where both sections had pay bonuses of 3.1% and 4%, respectively.