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One of Poland’s largest aggregates producers, DSS Group, has purchased a new Hitachi ZX670LC-5 for its quarry at Pilawa Górna in Lower Silesia. The company took delivery of the Zaxis-5 large excavator from Polish Hitachi dealer Tona in January 2013 as a key part of its strategy for aggregates production at the site. The DSS Group – owned by Dolnolskie Surowce Skalne SA – is the largest domestic producer of crushed aggregates for infrastructure projects. It has a 30-year licence to extract amphibolite (a

The pavement industry needs to come up with novel solutions in order to meet the twin challenges of climate change and squeezed budgets. This was the message from Kraton Polymers market development manager Rombout Hartemink when he addressed FIRM13. Hartemink illustrated the properties of Kraton’s modified bitumen with the aid of his stretchy bar. This 250mm-long bar of Highly Modified Bitumen stretches to five or six times its length, returning to its original state in around five minutes. “It changes

Chemical giant ICL is now promoting Poly Posphoric Acid (PPA) in Europe, presenting it to FIRM13. PPA can be added to bitumen by itself or with polymers and has been used in the US for 35 years, becoming more popular in the last 15. “This is related to the recognition that PPA can safely bring bitumen quality to within specifications and the demonstrated synergies in polymer modified bitumen,” said René Maldonado, manager technical development at ICL Performance Products. “PPA is now being used by sever

Colas has been working on new chip seal solutions for high traffic roads using bitumen emulsions. Technical director Christine Deneuvillers presented the company’s new range of Colas High Traffic chip seals to the 2013 FEHRL Infrastructure Research Meeting (FIRM13) in Brussels in June this year. Although chip seal is used on main roads in France, its most common application is on rural roads, said Deneuvillers. But today’s financial restraints mean that techniques such as chipseal, which can help exten

Preservation can make roads perform better and last longer - and save money in the long run. Kristina Smith reports BAM Wegen has laid the first ever half-warm porous asphalt section on a major highway in the Netherlands. The asphalt for the 500m-long test section on the A18 near Varsseveld was produced at 105°C rather than 160°C, representing a saving on energy and CO2 emissions of around 30%.