Towards the Valorization of Phosphate Wastes in bituminous materials

Abstract

The phosphate production process generates millions of tons of wastes annually in Morocco. These mine tailings could have negative impacts that can be observed on the surrounding environment. Therefore, innovative strategies should be proposed to valorize the solid wastes. This paper investigates a new approach of phosphate waste valorization in producing asphalt mixtures which can be a cost-effective and eco-friendly solution for managing these wastes. The main goal of the presented study is to examine the feasibility of using three phosphate wastes for fabrication of bituminous materials and to discover the better waste to be added in asphalt mixtures. Many solid wastes are selected to be used as minerals fillers. it is showed that the viscous flow behavior of the asphalt binder containing phosphogypsum and fly ash wastes is substantially improved in compression of that of asphalt binder with phosphate sludge filler. In addition, it was observed that phosphogypsum waste can enhance the mechanical properties of asphalt binder as well as its performance against rutting in comparison to the others wastes.