Avaliação do potencial do uso do Etileno Acetato de Vinila (EVA) descartado pela indústria calçadista em misturas asfálticas.

Abstract

The inappropriate disposal of industrial waste can cause serious impacts to the environment. Hazardous waste can cause irreversible damage to the environment and the community. The footwear industry disposes waste at its various stages of production. Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) used in the production of footwear insoles generates about 20 wt.% of residue. In paving, several modifiers are used to optimize the properties of asphalt binder extreme conditions. Polymers are among the main modifiers used, which include EVA. This work proposes the use of EVA residue discarded by the shoe industry in the city of Campina Grande in asphalt mixtures. The neat and modified asphalt binder were characterized by penetration test, softening point and rotational viscosity. The EVA residue was classified following NBR 10004/04 ABNT. In addition, mechanical tests, tensile strength, resilience modulus and Lottman test were also conducted. A experimental design tool using two factors (residue content of EVA (wt.%) and aging times (h) at different levels), was used to perform interactions between the factors and decrease the number of tests required. The mixture was designed using the Superpave methodology. The EVA residue was triturated and incorporated into asphalt cement (AC) using the wet process at levels of 0, 2, 3, 4 and 5 wt.%. The EVA residue was classified as a hazardous waste, Class I, containing levels of Zinc and Aluminum well above the limit set by the standard. It was also observed an increase in the modified binder viscosity. Tensile strength and resilience modulus results, all mixtures using EVA met the criteria DNIT, but only levels up to 2 wt.% of EVA waste and up to 3 hours of aging met the minimum criteria of loss of resistance induced by moisture (Lottman) and the ratio MR/RT. The use of EVA residue in asphat mixtures proved to be an effective alternative, besides meeting the requirements established by DNIT for use in asphalt paving.