Evaluation of the Impact of Short-Term Aging on Volumetric and Marshall Properties of Palm Oil Clinker Fine Modified Asphalt Concrete (POCF-MAC)

Disposal of palm oil mill waste material has become a significant factor impacting the environmental situation. Among the palm-oil waste the Palm Oil clinker (POC) is usually discarded in the landfill with no economic use. The use of waste materials as modifiers for bitumen mixtures is one of the better alternatives. For this study, the impact of short-term aging on Palm oil clinker fine (POCF) modified asphaltic mixtures was investigated. The POC chunks were initially grounded and sieved through the British standard (BS) 0.075 mm sieve to obtain the POCF that can be utilized as a bitumen modifier at 4%, 6%, and 8% by weight of bitumen. In this investigation, 4.9% optimum bitumen content was selected with a 60/70 penetration grade bitumen to investigates the properties of the POCF on the ACW 14 modified asphalt mixture before and after aging. The study implemented a laboratory simulation of short-time aging (S-TA). Volumetric and Marshall properties were evaluated and analysed to compare the unaged and aged samples. Furthermore, the regression model validates significantly (R2 value 0.89-0.99) that variation in the aging condition and POCF content is directly related to the variation in the Marshall and volumetric properties. The investigation shows that the aging condition and POCF content had a significant effect on voids, Marshall stability, and Marshall quotient, as the S-TA sample showed better results compared to unaged this finding was also verified by ANOVA analysis. The research finding indicates that mixtures with POCF-MB have better performance as compared to conventional mix even under S-TA.