SATBinderrr 2022 – Reasons to be there

The Society for Asphalt Technology (SAT) is pulling out all the stops for the upcoming SATBinderrr 2022 conference, taking place between 21 and 22 September at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria. Audrey Copeland, keynote speaker at SATBinderrr 2022, is one of the leading asphalt professionals in the USA and globally

Up to 200 delegates are expected to attend the in-person conference, while others will be joining online from South Africa and around the world.

The conference focus areas – Asphalt, Binders, Seals, Pavement Design, Recycling for Flexible Pavements, Chemistry for Roads, and Industry Disruptors – provide a comprehensive overview of not only what’s happening, but what could and potentially should happen within the industry.

“We need to look hard at the future and this is a conference that will allow us to do that. Our sustainability is not about today, but about tomorrow,” says Herman Marais, president, SAT.

“Fresh ideas and out-of-the-box thinking from our young, passionate presenters are balanced by the wisdom of industry stalwarts who have dozens of years of experience in South African and global asphalt technology,” Marais continues. He urges those not yet convinced to visit the Society for Asphalt Technology website to view all the presentation topics, abstracts and presenters.

Masterclasses

At the conference, delegates will have exclusive access to masterclasses presented by three of South Africa’s top asphalt and bitumen experts.

Gerrie van Zyl, director of Mycube Asset Management Systems, will share a threehour slot on how to minimise the risk of poor performance in seal work. His content is based on the knowledge of experienced practitioners and interrogation of a younger generation, more than 30 forensic investigations into premature failure, as well as global research.

Eddie Bond, technical executive at AECI Specialty Chemicals, will host a masterclass on adhesion promoters, covering the chemistry of each class of AP or anti-stripping agent, how they bond on aggregate surfaces, and applications.

Johan Muller, operational executive at SRT, will lead a third session covering binders from evolution to specifications to alternative technologies.

Keynote speaker

Audrey Copeland, keynote speaker at SATBinderrr 2022, is one of the leading asphalt professionals in the USA and globally. Copeland was appointed as president and CEO of the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) in 2019. Previously, she served for seven years as NAPA’s vice president: Engineering, Research and Technology.

Copeland has a PhD in Civil Engineering from Vanderbilt University and is a registered engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia and State of Maryland.

Sponsors

As testimony to the importance of this event, SATBinderrr 2022 has secured no fewer than 14 sponsors. These are: • AECI Much Asphalt: Gold Sponsor • KBK Engineers: Silver Sponsor • Specialised Road Technologies: Silver

Sponsor • Specialised Testing Laboratory: Silver

Sponsor • Anton Paar: Bronze Sponsor • Liesen: Bronze Sponsor • Roadlab: Bronze Sponsor • AECI Speciality Chemicals: Chemistry for Roads Focus Area Sponsor • B2SQUARE: Industry Disruptors Focus

Area Sponsor • BVi: Recycling for Flexible Pavements

Focus Area Sponsor • Colas: Seals Focus Area Sponsor • National Asphalt: Asphalt Focus

Area Sponsor • ROMH Consulting: Pavement Design

Focus Area Sponsor • Tosas: Binders Focus Area Sponsor. Comments Gold Sponsor AECI Much Asphalt: “AECI Much Asphalt believes the value of SATBinderrr lies in providing a platform for all the sectors of the bitumen industry to share ideas and best practice. Critically, it also gives a voice to the inexperienced practitioners to communicate with experienced knowledge and world-renowned experts.”

FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTIVE to a changing world

Phil Hendricks, CEO, Sabita The Southern African Bitumen Association (Sabita) has been championing design and product innovation in asphalt pavement construction since 1979. IMIESA speaks to Phil Hendricks, Sabita’s new CEO, who takes over the reins from Saied Solomons following his recent retirement.

How has your passion for roads and transportation engineering evolved during your career?

PH While I always had a fascination for engineering from a young age – fuelled by hours of Meccano set construction – my passion for the roads and transportation discipline was really ignited during my time lecturing at the Peninsula Technikon in Cape Town. I spent many hours in the mid1980s engaging with former Sabita CEO Piet Myburgh and technical director Rob Vos in the establishment of the asphalt laboratory at the Technikon, plus the extensive moderation of the various asphalt and material courses.

Later, I was fortunate to continue studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where I also worked as a research assistant under Professor Carl Monismith on the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP), which started in 1987 when the US Congress initiated the applied research initiative to improve the performance and safety of their national highway system.

Once back in South Africa, I moved to Pretoria and started working at the Division of Roads and Transport Technology of the CSIR, where the decades-long research exchange programme between Dynatest, the CSIR, University of California, Berkeley and later Davis and the California Department of Transport was about to be announced.

After 16 years within the research environment, I was once again able to fuel the passion when I joined Africon in the consulting engineering environment. At the time, Africon was in the process of becoming part of a global consolidation of three entities. Over the ensuing years, I held several positions at global and local levels within the roads and transportation field.

What are some of the key lessons learnt?

Let me touch on two that come to mind. The first lesson learnt is that by its very nature the engineering industry is honed through generations of excellence in mentoring and development. Mentors have played an invaluable role in my career, and their impact cannot be underestimated.

The second lesson is that our road engineering expertise has always been outstanding. South Africans can feel very proud of the technologies developed locally and exported over time to the rest of the world. This has been achieved through focused research and collaboration between industry stakeholders within the private and public sector.

As the new CEO, what are your objectives?

It’s important for Sabita to remain flexible and adaptive to political, economic and technological changes as it continues to lead the bituminous roads industry, delivering value for its members.

In future years, I do not expect major changes in the pivotal elements of Sabita’s strategy but expect to see increases in the efforts related to the promotion of sustainable practices for the construction and maintenance of our roads, and the promotion of sustainable human resources for the development of a proficient profession and a productive, skilled and competent work force.

What are some of Sabita’s key achievements to date?

Sabita has been in existence for 43 years, with an impressive record of key achievements for its members over the years. Examples include: • The evolution of the four-yearly Conference on Asphalt Pavements for Southern

Africa (CAPSA) as an internationally reputable event, cognisant of the latest sociopolitical, environmental and technological developments, for local and international transport professionals. • Continued research and development endeavours initiated following the launch of the Asphalt Research Strategy Task

Force (Arest). This has seen the outputs of research driven into practice with the development of research papers and the publication of technical manuals and guidelines. These technical manuals have become standard reference documents for the industry and, over the years, a host of new products have been introduced, including LAMBS (large aggregate mixes for bases) to provide a cost-effective solution for increased traffic loadings, GEMS (granular emulsion

mixes) to improve the structural strength characteristics of emulsion treated granular materials, and recently the

French technology EME (enrobé à module élevé) to evaluate the use of highmodulus asphalt in pavements on highly trafficked routes. • HSE activities with Sabita inaugurating its

Centre for Occupational Safety, Health and

Environmental Conservation (Coshec) in 2002. This oversaw the development and implementation of self-regulation policies such as safe working practices and bitumen safety training. Sabita later launched its HSE

Charter, which promoted compulsory selfregulating compliance of all members, with global standards of safe working practices aligned with local statutory requirements and global best practice. • The introduction of performance grade (PG) binder specifications into South Africa due to changing traffic volumes and traffic loading. The previous empirical bitumen increasingly failed to relate test results to pavement performance; and fundamental, visco-elastic and damage characterisation methods have been adopted.

How has the market responded to the launch of the Roads Maintenance Forum (RMF)?

The inaugural RMF event was held virtually on 7 April 2022 to coincide with International Road Maintenance Day, and was presented as a joint initiative between CESA, IMESA, SARF, SAT, SAFCEC, Sanral and Sabita. The market reacted extremely positively, with 331 attendees from across the broader roads industry, which presented the ideal platform for the exchange of information and technologies. Delegates included urban, rural, national and provincial authorities, as well as established and emerging consultants and contractors.

Future topics proposed for subsequent RMF meetings include: • the quality and standard of maintenance work and proactive resurfacing programmes • education on the importance of maintenance and the financial management of maintenance contracts • use of digital technologies for remote monitoring. The next RMF event, which will also be held online, takes place on 5 October 2022.

Are South Africa’s bitumen and asphalt standards in line with international best practice?

Most definitely – the linkages that Sabita and other entities in South Africa have with global research institutions and associations remain vital in staying abreast of the latest developments. These developments are typically then evaluated and improved on for the local environment and incorporated into new or updated best practice guidelines.

The exchange of information regionally and globally is critical, and Sabita is a member of several bituminous associations. These include GAPA (Global Asphalt Pavement Alliance), which, in addition to South Africa, represents associations based in Australia, Europe, Japan, the US, New Zealand and Mexico.

Local research efforts at the CSIR and the universities – particularly those that are Sanral funded – must also be acknowledged in keeping South Africa’s standards at the highest levels.

What are the major constraints and opportunities for South Africa’s roads sector?

Two major constraints include the bitumen supply and industry capacity situations. Only one of South Africa’s four crude oil petroleum refineries, namely Natref (Sasol and Total) in Sasolburg is currently in production to serve the bitumen demand. The imports will continue to grow, with major impacts on the bitumen industry, including the need for increased inventory holding, the establishment of port infrastructure enhancements, concerns over the quality variance of the imported bitumen, and the appropriate price recovery mechanisms and price fluctuations.

Many of the role players in the industry are struggling and we are seeing shrinking industry capacity due to the low level of contracts. The human capital and skills shortage is also being influenced by the maturing of the experienced skillsets and continued emigration.

There are many opportunities for South Africa’s roads sector, and this is well documented in the country’s infrastructure policy, its renewal plan, and the National Infrastructure Plan for 2050. The various road authorities’ plans point to significantly higher expenditure on road maintenance and repairs to reduce the road maintenance backlog. All of this will be dependent on the authorities procuring the work timeously and without disruption.

How can Sabita help to make the difference?

Sabita can and will continue to help in making a difference in the industry as it has for the past 43 years. However, I strongly feel that we will need to coordinate many of our industry efforts even better than we have before to significantly move the dial due to scarce and shrinking resources.

Sabita will be driving more effective and efficient collaboration across the industry and looks forward to ensuring that it plays a meaningful role in promoting road construction and maintenance as a key catalyst for economic revival and growth.