Page 44 - Logistics News - Issue 02 - 2024

NEWS

National roads being upgraded using

recycled truck tyres

THE USE of large amounts of recycled rubber crumb roads, the use of tar, which is extracted from coal and is
for the manufacture of road surfaces and related carcinogenic, has been discontinued and replaced with
products is propelling South Africa towards a circular bitumen, which is extracted from crude oil.
economy where waste products are usefully used to
address key infrastructure needs, points out Dr Mehran Bitumen, which for chipseal applications is sprayed
Zarrebini, CEO of Hammarsdale-based radial truck tyre onto the road surface at up to double the temperature
recycler Mathe Group. of boiling water, seals the top road layer works,
protecting the foundation layers beneath and acting as
Much of the production from the Mathe Group a waterproofing layer. Alternatively, it can be mixed in
factory, which recycles approximately 1,000 radial with the asphalt and acts as a glue, strengthening the
truck tyres per day to produce 45 tons of rubber crumb, road itself.
goes to Tosas, a bitumen product manufacturer, for
the manufacture of rubber modified bitumen, a product This bitumen that exits a refinery – known as
that is being used by the South Africa National Roads penetration grade bitumen – is modified with the
Agency (SANRAL) for massive upgrades to the N1 addition of a variety of different modifiers. Rubber
in Gauteng and the N2/N3 leading from the Port of modified bitumen is created by mixing 20 percent
Durban. rubber crumb with 80 percent bitumen and extender
oils.
Tosas approached Mathe Group in 2016 for the
supply of rubber crumb. This was shortly after Mathe “This is one of the most superior road bitumen
Group moved from a small facility in New Germany products in the world and, on top of that, there is the
to its present location in Hammarsdale, KwaZulu-
Natal. Since then, it has increased crumb production
significantly.

Tosas has been operating for more than five
decades and was originally jointly owned by Total and
Sasol. The company became part of the JSE-listed
Raubex Group and operates from seven locations
– Wadeville, Bloemfontein, Worcester, East London,
Durban, Gaborone and Tsumeb in Namibia.

Tosas became a leading bitumen-supplying
company by always keeping abreast of the latest
technological developments. The company has one
of the best bitumen testing laboratories in southern
Africa and is a world leader in the development of new
bitumen products.

Deon Pagel, MD of Tosas, explains that although
people still refer to so-called black top roads as ‘tarred’

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