Feb 25 2010
The Supervisory Council of Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies approved the project for reconstruction and expansion of production of a paving asphalt modifier Unirem, developed and manufactured by Novy Kauchuk. This modifier provides 30% increase in durability of pavements.
The project’s total budget is 1.85 of which RUSNANO will invest 1.29 billion rubles, including 0.99 billion rubles in loans.
This project will reconstruct and expand production facilities of Novy Kauchuk company. Production of the Unirem modifier is expected to increase from 700 tons in 2009 to 3,000 tons in 2010 and to grow to 10,000 tons in 2011. In the future another production facility will be established with the capacity of 30,000 tons.
The Unirem modifier is produced by grinding used tires at high temperatures and under high pressure. Particles in the modifier possess a micro- and nanomosaic structure, making the pavement resistant to water and cyclical deformations from temperature changes and impervious to cracks and ruts. As a result, the pavement’s service life is increased by a third and the time between repairs is lengthened by 25 percent to 30 percent.
“The project provides an important environmental benefits. As known, old automobile tires do not degrade naturally, thus their utilization is a critical environmental challenge. Now only 65 thousand tons per year - five to eight percent of all the tires that are disposed of each year - enter recycling,” notes RUSNANO Managing Director Sergey Polikarpov.
According to the plans of Russian transport system development for 2010-2015, up to 4,3 trillion. rubles are to be allocated for construction and reconstruction of highways in the country. Thus the potential market for paving modifiers in 2015, based on the total
volume of construction, reconstruction and repair of roads in Russia is estimated at more than 10 billion rubles per year.
Novy Kauchuk (LLC) was established in 2004. The company is oriented on commercial introduction of shear grinding technology of polymeric materials at elevated temperatures. Industrial facilities and technology for implementing shear grinding technology of polymeric materials at elevated temperatures were developed in Novy Kauchuk and patented.