Dear participants, hello. I am Frederic Andrzejewski, I have been working for the bitumen business for over 25 years as an Operational Manager in a factory that produces "waterproofing bituminous membranes for roofing applications". The industrial market sector consumes about 10 million metric tons of bitumen per year worldwide. As mentioned earlier, the bitumen market is 100 million ton year. Thus industrial uses represent around 10% of the overall market. It's mostly used in the construction industry and has a wide range of applications such as flat roof, low slope roof, housing, steep slope roof, plaza, car parks, basements, foundations, underground walls. And more or less in various applications such as, sound insulation, wrapping paper, electric condensators, carpets, special greases... In Europe and North America together, the bitumen industry produces more than 6 billion square meters of roofing per year. This kind of products has a long lasting quality of 25 to 30 years, and may be subject to regulations. In France, their warranty of durability must be at least ten years in accordance with the regulation. Bitumen is the ideal product for waterproofing buildings and has two main different applications: Packed in liquid form with additives for the preparation of surfaces like varnish, or by direct application to the substrates. And to coat the reinforcement, in that case polymer modified bitumen are used. Those coated reinforcements are called membranes or shingles that are use to make the sealings. In Europe, the bituminous membranes represent 2/3 of the membrane market. What are membrane and shingles made of? It is a textile reinforcement coated by a polymer modified bitumen, covered or not with mineral granules or metallic protection, or a thermosensitive film. What is reinforcement? This is mainly non-woven glass for shingles. Non-woven glass and polyester or both, or a mixing of both, for membranes. The glass is rather used for its characteristics of dimensional stability and high tensile strength. Polyester is more resistant to puncture. For which reason is modified bitumen used? To deal with the technical constraints, the bitumen caracteristics must be improved. A thermoplastic polymer is mixed with the straight-run bitumen beforehand blended with around 10% of pet coke. The plastomer (APP: Atactic Polyropylene) brings a higher softening point, the SBS a lower. But, above all, a capacity of elasticity recovery which is not given by APP, that also mean, for SBS a better cold bending. To improve the manufacturing and increase the viscosity at low cost, a limestone mineral filler is added to the mixture. Others additives may be added to fight fire, anti-fire powders or anti roots chemical agents. Some other mixtures provide to the bitumen, adhesive properties for self-adhesive products. Oxidized bitumens, higher softening points, more or less loaded, are mainly used to make shingles but also to saturate the reinforcement polyester to avoid any capillary rising that would occur. Once mixed, it is be used to coat to selected to membrane. I will now briefly explain how both membrane and shingles are produced? The reinforcement, generally 1m width, is unwinded and covered on top and back whith the mixture at around 175 degrees Celsius. A plastic film or a mineral protection is applied depending on the use of membrane. Then the membrane goes through a cooling section and its temperature decreases down to 30 degrees Celsius. At the end of the production line, a winder makes rolls between 5 to 50 meters long, depending on the thickness (from 1 to 5 millimeters by average). The length of each roll relies on its global weight, as it will be handled by the roofers when applying the membranes on roofs. Each rolls is wrapped and put standup on pallets. On shingles line, there is no winder. End of line, the strip is cutted to size, according to the pattern, and packaged on pallet shrink bag or plastic film, close the pallet for transport. On the one hand, membranes have several uses such as and mainly low slope roofs, vapor barrier, underground walls or basements. On the other hand, shingles are mostly used on steep-slope roof, especially in North America'houses. Bitumen roofing products and systems can be cold-applied, soft-applied or hot-applied. Shingles are cold applied just using mechanical fasteners, nails, staples. Membranes are soft apply, using flaming torch, in single layer (single ply system) or two crossed layers (two ply system). The cold application is used with a self-adhesive membrane. On steel roof, the first layer can be screwed on the steel deck through the insulation. As far as bridges and car parks are concerned, membranes are generally bonded to a carrier previously prepared by covering a binder with specific aggregates to create a tread. Liquids, called primers, such as emulsion are more often used to prepare the medium on which the waterproofing layer will be applied (concrete, wood). One use is to glue insulation: Particularly in environments presenting high level of humidity like a swimming pool. The oxidized bitumen or modified bitumen, cold, packed in parallelepided form is wrapped with a film. Those blocks once melted in suitable melters, are used as glue to bond the insulation like cellular glass. I will now finish my short talk by briefly approaching our last topic. Technically speaking it is possible to recycle membranes and shingles for paving or others roofing applications. The difficulty still from membranes to separate the mix product, membranes and insulation or screws. In conclusion, remember that: the global industrial market consumes about 10 million metric tons of bitumen, mainly for building. The industrial market represents 10% of the bitumen market worldwide. The roofing industry produce more than 6 billion square meters of roofing annually in Europe and North America alone. Straightrun bitumen is modified with polymer to increase the softening point: both plastomer APP and elastomere SBS are used. With SBS, the elastic recovery is improved. Durability is over 25 years and depends upon exposure. Mainly cold and soft application are performed (no or less fumes than hot application). Recycling is possible. Many thanks for your attention.
