A technology developed by Brazilian researchers can use sugar cane bagasse, a waste is plentiful and cheap in the country, in the mix for the manufact

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The substitution of the cellulose fiber to be asphalt mixture to sugar cane bagasse significantly reduces the price of the material, reported Science Hoje ", the news portal of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science.

The replacement, in addition, may provide a new destination for the thousands of tons of waste left the cane in Brazil, which is the largest producer and exporter of refined sugar and sugar cane ethanol.

Brazil produces about 132 million tons of sugar cane bagasse per year.

Most of this material is used by producers as fuel for boilers, but a fifth is thrown into the environment.

Currently, to asphalt mixture is cellulose fiber stabilizing additive and cement to prevent run off during the stages of mixing and application of material.

Researchers at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio de Janiero (IFF) developed a technology that allows you to use cane sugar instead of the cellulose fiber as the stabilizer element.

"The main advantage of this substitution is the significantly lower cost," said Claudio Leal, a researcher at the IFF and one of the coordinators of the project.

"The use of this industrial waste also contributes to sustainable development," added the researcher.

The solution was developed for type stone matrix asphalt (SMA, for its acronym in English). It is an asphalt mixture developed in Germany for five decades and used in paving roads with heavy traffic, airports, loading and unloading areas, parking lots and resilient flooring.

According to the researcher, the bagasse has to be processed to serve as an additive to asphalt. "It just has to be ground and strained," he said.

"By contrast, production of cellulose fibers to the asphalt required to add a complex chemical process that generates some effluent," said Leal.

Since each ton of SMA absorbs about 3 kilograms of additives are needed about 12 reals ($ 6.5) in cellulose fiber for mixing. The same amount of sugar virtually costs nothing.

After demonstrating in laboratory and pilot projects the feasibility of using cane sugar on the asphalt, the researchers used the formula experimentally IFF for paving this year of a stretch of the BR-356, a major highway in northern state of Rio de Janeiro.