Influence of cigarette filter quantity on asphalt mixture: thermal and ageing performance

Abstract

Disposing of cigarette butts (CBs) in the environment is considered one of the environmental problems caused by smoking, including cigarettes, which leads to soil pollution, and adverse effects on the growth of plants, animals and birds. On the other hand, nowadays, due to rising economic costs and lack of access to natural materials, recycling waste products in nature in road construction has expanded. The present study has evaluated the use of cigarette filters as an additive in asphalt. To use the cigarette filter in asphalt, the surface of the filters was first well covered with bitumen to prevent the spread of contaminants in the filter and also the adsorption of bitumen by the filter, and then asphalt samples were made with different percentages of cigarette filter (10, 15 and 25 kg/m3). In this study, we performed the tests of moisture sensitivity, resilience modulus, heat capacity, aging ,and lateral deformation to evaluate the performance of samples made with different amounts of a cigarette filter. According to the results, as the amount of a cigarette filter increases, the resilience modulus and the rate of temperature absorption decrease ,and the lateral deformation increases within the asphalt mixture. Also, it was concluded that increasing the cigarette filter within the asphalt mixture reduces the amount of TSR ,and therefore, the amount of cigarette filter use should be controlled. Aging was another factor that was examined in this test. According to the results, aging increases the amount of indirect tensile and decreases the amount of TSR.