Work Item
ASTM WK88109
Revision of D5404/D5404M-21 Standard Practice for Recovery of Asphalt Binder from Solution Using the Rotary Evaporator
Rationale
The rationale for the standard is to provide the user with a method that accelerates binder residue recovery through automated controls of the rotary evaporator and more optimized solvent evaporation methods. Concern with the current methods is that the asphalt binder residue remains in solvent for long durations of time that can alter or deteriorate the asphalt binder. Current practice to recover asphalt binder residue from solvent can take up to 2 or more hours to complete. This is caused by two primary reasons 1) the methods to extract asphalt binder from asphalt mixtures uses a large quantity of solvent to dissolve the asphalt binder, and 2) current recovery methods are not optimized to rapidly recover the asphalt binder residue and do not fully utilize of the capabilities of rotary evaporator units. This method paired with ASTM D8159 Automated Extraction of Asphalt Binder from Asphalt Mixtures, proposes to significantly reduce asphalt recovery times, and the time asphalt binder residue is exposed to solvent. At the completion of extraction via D8159, the sample coming from the unit is typically 300-500 mL, this amount of sample can be 4-5x less than conventional centrifuge methods, where 2-3 L of solvent may be used to extract the binder residue. Because the quantity of solvent that remains with the asphalt binder residue is reduced, the time it takes to evaporate the solvent and recover the residue is also greatly reduced. Optionally, transfer of effluent from the automated extraction units may be directly fed into the rotary evaporator to limit exposure of solvent to the user. Two methods are proposed in this procedure. The first method will use automated controls from the rotary evaporator units to sense (with some user inputs) the optimum evaporation of solvent from the asphalt binder residue. The automated method will control the rate of evaporation through vacuum, heat, condensation, and vapor temperature to quickly and efficiently remove the solvent from the asphalt binder residue in minimal time. For rotary evaporator units without automated recovery controls, the manual method will provide user inputs and controls to also quickly and efficiently recover asphalt binder residue. This method also does not require the use of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) or carbon dioxide (CO2) gas during the use of the test.
Work Item Status
Date Initiated: 10-12-2023
Technical Contact: Zachary McKay
Item: 000
Ballot:
Status: