ECO ROADS: A solution to the vehicular pollution on roads

1. Introduction
One of the major problems in today’s world is the growing pollution. The cause for all
environmental problems is the increasing pollution rate. Looking upon the statistics, one
can find out that most of the pollution is caused by the vehicular pollution which is more
than 70 % of the total pollution, effecting the environment as well as human health
proportionally. One is aware of the fact that vehicles run on roads so why not having the
roads which could adsorb that pollution, not only once but a number of times. Every
problem has a solution which can be solved by the state of art of technology, that is one
can use the innovative ideas and thoughts to make technology as a solution to the
problem of vehicular pollution on roads. Solving the problem up to a certain limit/
percentage can be formulated into a new term called ECO ROADS.

2. Vehicular Pollutants
There are basically five pollutants that are exhausted from the vehicles. The largest part
of most combustion gas is nitrogen (N 2), water vapour (H2O) (except with pure-carbon
fuels), and carbon dioxide (CO2) (except for fuels without carbon); these are not toxic or
noxious (although carbon dioxide is generally recognized as a greenhouse gas that
contributes to global warming). A relatively small part of combustion gas is undesirable
noxious or toxic substances, such as carbon monoxide (CO) from incomplete
combustion, hydrocarbons (properly indicated as CxHy, but typically shown simply as
"HC" on emissions-test slips) from unburnt fuel, nitrogen oxides (NO x) from excessive
combustion temperatures, Ozone (O3), and particulate matter (mostly soot).
Emissions of many air pollutants have been shown to have variety of negative effects on
public health and the natural environment. The principal pollutants of concern are carbon
dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, particulate carbon soot and
hydrocarbons.
Hydrocarbons are a class of burned or partially burned fuel, hydrocarbons are and are a
major contributor to smog, which can be a major problem in urban areas. Prolonged
exposure to hydrocarbons contributes to asthma, liver disease, and cancer. Regulations
governing hydrocarbons vary according to type of engine and jurisdiction; in some cases,
"non-methane hydrocarbons" are regulated, while in other cases, "total hydrocarbons" are
regulated. Technology for one application (to meet a non-methane hydrocarbon standard)
may not be suitable for use in an application that has to meet a total hydrocarbon
standard. Methane is not toxic, but is more difficult to break down in a catalytic
converter, so in effect a "non-methane hydrocarbon" standard can be considered to be
looser. Since methane is a greenhousegas, interest is rising in how to eliminate emissions
of it.
Carbon monoxide (CO) - A product of incomplete combustion, carbon monoxide reduces
the blood's ability to carry oxygen; overexposure (carbon monoxide poisoning) may be
fatal.
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) - Generated when nitrogen in the air reacts with oxygen at the
high temperature and pressure inside the engine. NO x is a precursor to smog and acid
rain. NOx is a mixture of NO and NO2. NO2 destroys resistance to respiratory infection.
For dogs most of the nitrogen dioxide is removed in the nasal cavity. Jumbo vehicles and
delivery trucks blow hot exhaust, containing life dangerous quantities of NO2 into the
atmosphere.
Particulate matter – Soot or smoke made up of particles in the micrometer size range:
Particulate matter causes negative health effects, including but not limited to respiratory
disease.
Sulfur oxide (SOx) - A general term for oxides of sulphur, which are emitted from motor
vehicles burning fuel containing a high concentration of sulphur.

3. Earlier emission control methods

These techniques are used with the automobiles. Advances in engine and vehicle
technology continually reduces the toxicity of exhaust leaving the engine, but these alone
have generally been proved insufficient to meet emissions goals. Therefore, technologies
to detoxify the exhaust are an essential part of emissions control. Some of them are Air
injection which is one of the first-developed exhaust emission control systems is
secondary air injection. Originally, this system was used to inject air into the engine's
exhaust ports to provide oxygen so unburned and partially-burned hydrocarbons in the
exhaust would finish burning. Air injection is now used to support the catalytic
converter's oxidation reaction, and to reduce emissions when an engine is started from
cold. After a cold start, an engine needs a fuel-air mixture richer than what it needs at
operating temperature, and the catalytic converter does not function efficiently until it has
reached its own operating temperature. The air injected upstream of the converter
supports combustion in the exhaust headpipe, which speeds catalyst warmup and reduces
the amount of unburned hydrocarbon emitted from the tailpipe. Secondly, Exhaust Gas
Recirculation which is evident from the United States and Canada, many engines in 1973
and newer vehicles (1972 and newer in California) have a system that routes a metered
amount of exhaust into the intake tract under particular operating conditions. Exhaust
neither burns nor supports combustion, so it dilutes the air/fuel charge to reduce peak
combustion chamber temperatures. This, in turn, reduces the formation of NOx. Thirdly,
Catalytic Converter which is a device placed in the exhaust pipe converting
hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and NOx into less harmful gases by using a combination
of platinum, palladium and rhodium as catalysts. Fourthly, Evaporative emissions control
in which evaporative emissions are the result of gasoline vapors, escaping from the
vehicle's fuel system. Since 1971, all U.S. vehicles have had fully sealed fuel systems
that do not vent directly to the atmosphere; mandates for systems of this type appeared
contemporaneously in other jurisdictions. In a typical system, vapors from the fuel tank
and carburetor bowl vent (on carbureted vehicles) are ducted to canisters containing
activated carbon. The vapors are adsorbed within the canister, and during certain engine
operational modes fresh air is drawn through the canister, pulling the vapor into the
engine, where it burns.

4. Concept of Eco Roads

Civil engineering is not only construction but to work towards sustainable development.
Although there is lot of construction work going on everywhere but the prior need is to
make the construction green. There has been a lot of work in recent about the green
construction which helps in reducing the pollution level. One can have an alternative for
fuels but there cannot be an alternative for the environment. The concept of eco roads has
evolved from this fact that such roads must be laid which can absorb the pollution
through their surfaces.
These days the maximum pollution on roads is from automobile exhausts, the eco roads
will reduce that pollution by capturing those harmful gases from the exhausts and
converting them to harmless ones.

5. Existing road Definition

Roads are basically made up of bituminous coal or black coal, a relatively
soft coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite
coal but of poorer quality than anthracite. It was usually formed as a result of high
pressure on lignite. It is an organic sedimentary rock formed by digenetic and sub
metamorphic compression of peat bog material. It has been compressed and heated so
that its primary constituents are macerals vitrinite, exinite, and so on. The carbon content
of bituminous coal is around 60-80%; the rest is composed of water, air, hydrogen,
and sulfur, which have not been driven off from the macerals. The heat content of
bituminous coal ranges from 21 million to 30 million Btu per short ton (24 to 35 MJ/kg)
on a moist, mineral-matter-free basis. Bank density is approximately 1346 kg/m³
(84 lb/ft³). Bulk density typically runs to 833 kg/m³ (52 lb/ft³).

6. Pollutants Eliminated Using Eco Roads

Carbon Dioxide adsorption: The upper layer of a road is made up of bituminous which is
made from fractional distillation of oil; also a mixture of bitumen and mineral filler is a
road surfacing material. So we can use substances like charcoal but as its chemical
composition is carbon this cannot be used with it, so next we have tethered hyper
branched amino silica (HAS) or SBA 15 material this can absorb around 3 mille mole of
carbon per gram impregnated adsorbents that is even adsorbing after several cycles. The
advantage of this adsorbent over previously reported adsorbents rests in its large CO 2
capacity and demonstrated multicycle stability. The material was recycled by thermally
desorbing the CO2 from the surface with essentially no changes in capacity. Furthermore,
the organic groups on the surface were stable in the temperature range between 25 and
130 °C due to the covalent attachment between the support and the organic groups.And
the adsorption cycle for this material is multiple, it can absorb as many times the road
last.

Nitrogen Oxides adsorption: Vehicle exhaust gases contain nitrogen oxides (NOx), which
cause acid rain and smog. The air purifying concrete contains titanium dioxide, a photo
catalytic material that removes the nitrogen oxides from the air and converts them with
the aid of sunlight into harmless nitrate. The nitrate is then rinsed away by rain. These
stones also have another advantage: they break down algae and dirt, so that they always
stay clean. Titanium dioxide is the naturally occurring oxide of titanium (TiO2) and it's
used in white paint, sunscreen, food coloring, naturally break down that way, so it
shouldn't etc. As for the nitrates, NOx would add to the problem. In fact, it might make it
easier to capture them and mitigate the problem. This material can also be mixed with
regular asphalt for use where you don't want or need a concrete road. It's pretty versatile.

7. Advantages of Eco Roads

The eco roads will help greatly in the reduction of the environmental pollution thereby
posing the various advantages such as:
1. They help in reducing green house gases.
2. Reduces the pollution rate.
3. Helps in cleaning and purifying the air and reducing air diseases.

8. Cost Analysis
The project is not cost effective; rather it will increase the cost of construction by around
8-10 % which a big amount in case of road construction in the present scenario. But this
increase in cost will help in reduction of the pollution rate by around 30%.

9. Difficulties faced after constructing eco roads

a) Removal of gases from adsorbent in the form of another harmless gas may develop pores in the
roads and can decrease the solidity of the roads, and could make them porous. Somehow this can
be avoided if one can find any catalyst which can convert them in a liquid form such as plasma.
Then they can be easily evaporated or washed off with the help of sunlight or rain.
b) Increasing in the cost, but this can be tolerated by the government and other agencies to control
the pollution

9.Plastics roads
Plastic use in road construction is not new. It is already in use as PVC or HDPE pipe mat crossings
built by cabling together PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or HDPE(high-density poly-ethylene) pipes to
form plastic mats. The plastic roads include transition mats to ease the passage of tyres up to and
down from the crossing.
Both options help protect wetland haul roads from rutting by distributing the load across the
surface. But the use of plastic-waste has been a concern for scientists and engineers for a quite
long time. Recent studies in this direction have shown some hope in terms of usingplastic-waste in
road construction i.e., Plastic roads.

9.1 Basic process

Waste plastic is ground and made into powder; 3 to 4 %plastic is mixed with the bitumen. Plastic
increases the melting point of the bitumen and makes the road retain its flexibility during winters
resulting in its long life. Use of shredded plastic waste acts as a strong “binding agent” for tar
making the asphalt last long. By mixing plastic with bitumen the ability of the bitumen to
withstand high temperature increases. The plastic waste is melted and mixed with bitumen in a
particular ratio. Normally, blending takes place when temperature reaches 45.5°C but when plastic
is mixed, it remains stable even at 55°C. The vigorous tests at the laboratory level proved that the
bituminous concrete mixes prepared using the treated bitumen binder fulfilled all the specified
Marshall mix design criteria for surface course of road pavement. There was a substantial increase
in Marshall Stability value of the BC mix, of the order of two to three times higher value in
comparison with the untreated or ordinary bitumen. Another important observation was that the
bituminous mixes prepared using the treated binder could withstand adverse soaking conditions
under water for longer duration.
9.2 Advantages
1. The durability of the roads laid out with shredded plastic waste is much more compared with
roads with asphalt with the ordinary mix
2. The binding property of plastic makes the road last longer besides giving added strength to
withstand more loads.
3. While a normal 'highway quality' road lasts four to five years it is claimed that plastic-bitumen
roads can last up to 10 years.
4. Rainwater will not seep through because of the plastic in the tar.
5. Using plastic will help reduce non-biodegradable waste.

9.3 Disadvantages
The cost of plastic road construction may be slightly higher compared to the conventional method.

10.Waste Rubber Tire Roads

Now-a-days disposal of different wastes produced from different Industries is a great
problem. These materials pose environmental pollution in the nearby locality because
many of them are non-biodegradable. Traditionally soil, stone aggregate, sand, bitumen,
cement etc. are used for road construction. Natural material being exhaustible in nature,
its quantity is declining gradually. Also, cost of extracting good quality of natural
material is increasing. Concerned about this, the scientists are looking for alternative
materials for highway construction, by which the pollution and disposal problems may be
partly reduced. Keeping in mind the need for bulk use of these solid wastes in India, it
was though texpedient to test these materials and to develop specifications to enhance the
use of waste tyres in road making in which higher economic returns may be possible. The
possible use of these materials should be developed for construction of low volume roads
in different parts of our country. The necessary specifications should be formulated and
attempts are to be made to maximize the use of solid wastes in different layers of the road
pavement

11. Methodology
Waste rubber tyres were collected from roads sides, dumpsites and waste-buyers. The
collected waste tyres were sorted as per the required sizes for the aggregate. The waste
tyres were cut in the form of aggregate of sizes ranging from 22.4 mm to 6.00 mm (as per
IRC-SP20) in the tyre cutting machine.
The waste rubber tyres can be managed as a whole tyre, as slit tyre, as shredded or
chopped tyre, as ground rubber or as a crumb rubber product. The rubber of tyre usually
employed in bituminous mix, in the form of rubber particles are subjected to a dual cycle
of magnetic separation, then screened and recovered in various sizes and can be called as
Rubber aggregate. It was cleaned by de-dusting or washing if required. The rubber pieces
(rubber aggregate) were sieved through 22.4 mm sieve and retained at 5.6 mm sieve as
per the specification of mix design and these were added
in bituminous mix, 10 to 20 percent by weight of the stone aggregate. These rubber
aggregate were mixed with stone aggregate and bitumen at temperature between 1600c to
1700c for proper mixing of bituminous mix. As the waste rubber tyres are
thermodynamically set, they are not supposed to melt in the bitumen, at the time of
mixing of rubber aggregate, stone aggregate and bitumen in hot mix plant.

Advantages:
1.Addition of waste tyres as rubber aggregate modifies the flexibility of surface layer.
2. Optimum content of waste rubber tyres to be used is between the range of 5% to 20%.
3. Problem like thermal cracking and permanent deformation are reduce in hot
temperature region.
4. Rubber has property of absorbing sound, which also help in reducing the sound
pollution of heavy traffic roads.
5.Waste rubber tyres thus can be put to use and it ultimately improves the quality and
performance of road.
6. Conventional stone aggregate can be saved to a certain quantity

References
1. Carbon Dioxide Capture by Diamine-Grafted SBA-15: A Combined Fourier
Transform Infrared and Mass Spectrometry Study Rajesh A. Khatri,† Steven S. C.
Chuang,*,† Yee Soong,‡ and McMahan Gray‡ Chemical Engineering Department, The
University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325-3906, and National Energy Technology
Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15236

2. Designing Adsorbents for CO2 Capture from Flue Gas-Hyperbranched Aminosilicas

Capable of Capturing CO2 Reversibly Jason C. Hicks,† Jeffrey H. Drese,† Daniel J.
Fauth,‡ McMahan L. Gray,‡ Genggeng Qi,† and Christopher W. Jones*,† School of
Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 311 Ferst
DriVe, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, and U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy
Technology Laboratory, 626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PennsylVania 15236

3. Mrs. Vidula Swmi et al. “Use of waste plastic in construction of bituminous road,” International
Journal of Engineering Science and Technology (IJEST), pp.2351-2355,Vol. 4 No.05 May 2012.

4. Rokade S. “Use of Waste Plastic and Waste Rubber Tyres in Flexible Highway Pavements,”
2012 International Conference on Future Environment and Energy(IPCBEE), vol.28(2012),
IACSIT press, Singapoore.