Graphene asphalt experimentation starts in Milan: Iterchimica, an Italian company which is world leader in the field of asphalt additives, together with the Metropolitan City of Milan will carry out the reconstruction of a section of the SP35 Milano-Meda and of a section of the SP40 Lacchiarella with Gipave, a graphene-based super-modifier.
The aim is also to confirm the results already obtained in the laboratory and on the road in Milan which demonstrate an increase in the duration of the pavement by 250%. To date, the results of the experimentation have shown that Gipave improves the performance of road pavements, with particular reference to the increase in resilience and the reduction of thermal susceptibility (also due to strong temperature excursions) and therefore to double its useful life.
On the recommendation of the Metropolitan City of Milan, the experimentation consists in the reconstruction of the three layers of the road pavement (base, binder, wear) of a stretch of approximately 500 meters of the Provincial Road 35 Milan-Meda, from km 133 + 300 to 132 + 850 in the direction of Milan. In detail: 200 meters using “Hard” modified bitumen and 250 meters with asphalt containing the Gipave supermodifier with graphene. At the beginning of October, instead, two layers of the road pavement (base and wear) of a 600-meter stretch on the Provincial Road 40 Lacchiarella, from km 3 + 850 to km 4 + 900, is planned. In detail: 300 meters with modified asphalt with Gipave and 300 meters with “Soft” modified bitumen.
Iterchimica – 90% controlled by the Giannattasio family and 10% by Eng. Vito Gamberale – was founded in 1967 by Gabriele Giannattasio and today operates in over 90 countries in the market for additives and technologies for asphalts. The company produces and markets products for improving the characteristics of road surfaces, increasing their safety, eco-sustainability, efficiency and performance. An independent certified laboratory will take care of the tests and monitoring of the paving through checks both in the production and laying of the asphalt, with collection and analysis of samples, and in the following months through core sampling and dynamic tests, directly on the road.
“We often hear about the roads being only negative due to potholes or traffic, but not everyone knows that today it is possible to create green, high-tech, highly resistant, environmentally sustainable and 100% recyclable floors, thanks to a technology made in Italy . Four years ago, taking advantage of a tender by the Lombardy Region, we began to study and design a graphene additive in our laboratories and to test its effects on asphalts with impressive results in terms of duration and increase in the useful life of the pavement. Today, together with the Metropolitan City of Milan, we can continue the road tests to collect more data with a project that meets all the requirements of the tender specifications in force in Italy, “commented Federica Giannattasio, Iterchimica CEO.
The new production plant at the Suisio (BG) site next year will allow the placing on the market of a product that contributes to achieving the objectives set by the Green and Circular Economy and the Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM). Gipave, in fact, will allow the recycling of materials, the increase in the duration of the roads and the consequent decrease in ordinary and extraordinary maintenance.
