Iterchimica, the Italian company leader in asphalt additives all over the world, has recently patented the first street in the world made with Ecopave, i.e. a graphene-base supermodifying element. This project was conducted in partnership with the University La Sapienza in Rome and Rome Municipality and it is now in its second testing phase. During the first phase (in lab) experiments with Ecopave proved how it allows the enhancement of roads life, more specifically in terms of resilience and a minor sensitivity to environmental temperature.

In fact, the objective of this new innovative material is to increase the life and resistance of roads. The second testing phase will consist of the road pavement of a kilometre in the Strada

Provinciale Ardeatina in Rome, which is very bad at the moment. The new technology will be employed for only two out of the three layers composing the street, namely the binder and use-surface, not the base.

This innovative method employed is also a virtuous example of circular economy, based on the regeneration of old road pavements. In fact, thanks to the regenerative additives the testing phase also allows the re-use of 40% of the old recycled asphalt for the binder and 30% for the use-surface. A road entirely built with supermodifying elements will be able to be recycled for an endless number of times: it is possible to re-use up to 100% of the milled asphalt, avoiding the landfill disposal of the material, extraction of new aggregates from pits and the use of first-use bitumen.

During the third and last testing phase, the road portion where the new technique is applied will be constantly monitored in collaboration with Professor Nicola Fiore, university teacher of Techniques and Safety in worksites at the University La Sapienza in Rome.

As highlighted by Federica Giannattasio, Iterchimica CEO, these testing phases will produce evidences on how Made in Italy ground-breaking technologies are able to remarkably improve the quality of life and the community living spaces.