Rolland Schnell, a Newton area farmer and past president of Iowa Soybean Association, pauses for a portrait at the NCAT Test Track in Auburn, Alabama.
Road Ready Soy-based asphalt shows promise at test track BY JOSEPH L. MURPHY
T
he success or failure of a project is often determined on the test track. Take the Daytona 500 as an example. Teams arrived weeks before the race for exhaustive testing before the big event. The race teams know a turn of the wrench can be the difference between the checkered flag and not even qualifying. In order to research the viability of soy-based, biopolymer asphalt, an Iowa farmer recently traveled to the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) in Auburn, Ala. Joining a group of engineers, scientists and consultants, the team found the new product is a success in every definition of the word. “Like biodiesel, this is another opportunity to have a value-added
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product here at home,” says Rolland Schnell, farmer and former Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) director. “These types of products increase the profitability of raising soybeans and decrease the cost of animal production.” About a decade ago, ISA directors voted to use $125,000 as seed money matched by the United Soybean Board (USB) to build a pilot plant at Iowa State University (ISU) that experimented with the production of asphalt using biopolymers produced with soybean oil. After years of work, high oleic soybean oil was used as a binder to hold aggregates together and make asphalt. “I'm excited because when you start in a lab, you have a dream,” says Chris Williams, a professor in the department
of civil, construction and environmental engineering at ISU. His team has worked on developing the product since the beginning. "To see this dream being realized today is exciting. I truly believe this is going to create immense value for the people of Iowa and across the United States." The polymer offers a lower-cost, less volatile and cleaner alternative to the traditional petroleum-based binding agents used in asphalt. The soybean oil also increases the reuse rate on asphalt grindings from 17% to over 30%, according to USB data. “This is a project that was started several years ago, and now we have seen it taken from the theoretical to application,” Schnell says.
