Skip to main content

Massenza getting good mileage out of its combined bitumen plant

Environmental issues are now more than ever shaping decisions that governments make when it comes to road building which means contactors have to prove their credentials. For that reason alone sales of the combined polymer and crumb rubber onsite bitumen plant the Italian family business Massenza have been doing well in Europe, said Diego Massenza, who has been in the business for 15 years and is now general manager. The plant was developed by Massenza, a 70-year-old company based in Bologna, around 2010, a
February 24, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Environmental issues have to be addressed during road construction
Environmental issues are now more than ever shaping decisions that governments make when it comes to road building which means contactors have to prove their credentials.

For that reason alone sales of the combined polymer and crumb rubber onsite bitumen plant the Italian family business 6805 Massenza have been doing well in Europe, said Diego Massenza, who has been in the business for 15 years and is now general manager.

The plant was developed by Massenza, a 70-year-old company based in Bologna, around 2010, and it appears to have come along at the right time, Massenza told World Highways during a break at the Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit in Paris.

Many governments are under siege to come up with policies to help the environment and Massenza’s combined plant is a direct user of old tyres in the form of crumb rubber, so it’s a visible solution to an environmental problem, he said.

The Spanish and Greek markets have been increasingly important for the plant, but also the Middle East is coming up fast.

Massenza, who also outlined the plant to delegates during his presentation in the morning Innovation Session at PPRS, noted that the clients are also looking for increasing flexibility. The fact that the plant can easily switch from crumb rubber to polymer means there is a cost saving – only one plant is needed for the two processes. It also is set up on site within a day.

North America, which has some of the most stringent environmental rules and regulations, is still a market not explored be the family business, explained Massenza. The demand may be there but it’s a tough market to crack, he said, because of extensive machine licencing and permits required at all levels of government.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Show me the money at Australian Summit
    September 4, 2012
    The question of how to finance and fund major road infrastructure projects in Australia – including the potential role of user-pays charging as a funding solution – was top of mind at the recent Roads Australia National Summit in Sydney. The two-day summit, organised by peak national body Roads Australia, is the largest and most influential annual gathering of industry decision-makers in the country. This year’s summit was held against a backdrop of concern over the future of a raft of major road projects t
  • EAPA’s 10th Symposium: sustainability and communication issues
    July 19, 2017
    Sustainability and the highways sector’s image issue were two major themes at the 10th symposium of the European Asphalt Paving Association in Paris. Margo Cole reports. Sustainability was explicit or implicit in many presentations during EAPA’s biennial symposium for the paving supply chain. The industry feels that sustainability is its home territory, thanks to an already good – and getting even better - record of recycling of materials. But do buyers and users of roads realise that the design and contrac
  • Advances in asphalt plant production
    November 27, 2012
    Leading asphalt plant manufacturers have recently unveiled their latest products aimed at customers looking for significant efficiency gains through the use of durable and lasting technology. Guy Woodford looks at some of the new batch Benninghoven showcased a wide variety of its new and innovative asphalt plants and individual plant components during its week-long Open Days event last month at the German firm’s HQ in Mülheim. Launched earlier this year, the MMX80 Continuous Asphalt Plant is capable of prod
  • Demand is changing in the bitumen market
    August 22, 2013
    The supply and demand for bitumen around the world is changing; refineries, suppliers and contractors must all make changes too - Kristina Smith reports These are interesting times for those supplying and buying bitumen. Almost every part of the picture is in flux: global demand is shifting dramatically; major suppliers are following demand; refineries are closing down or stopping production of bitumen. “In Europe and globally there is a very big chain of events happening,” said Bernd Schmidt, CEO o