BASF boosts support for sustainable road construction

• BASF acquired the exclusive right to distribute RheoFalt^® products from Ventraco worldwide
• The expansion of the product portfolio serves sustainable road construction and the need for rejuvenators in reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP)
• By strengthening its portfolio of asphalt performance products, BASF is proactively shaping the growing market for sustainable road construction solutions

As of September 2020, BASF has the worldwide distribution rights for RheoFalt^® products manufactured by the Netherlands-based company Ventraco. Excluded from the agreement are Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands, where Ventraco will continue to supply the products.     

“We are very pleased to be able to expand our portfolio with the highly effective RheoFalt^® products from Ventraco. With these products, we serve the constantly increasing demand for rejuvenators. This enables us to serve the need for sustainable road construction," says Dr. Mario Sandor, Head of Business Management Asphalt Performance at BASF. “We have an outstanding sales organization, which means we can offer customers easier access to RheoFalt^® products.”

With RheoFalt^® HP-AM, BASF has added a powerful rejuvenator to its portfolio. The product enables 100% recycling of old asphalt, and has been scoring outstanding results in internal and external tests for 10 years. RheoFalt^® HP-AM is the first organic rejuvenator worldwide based on 100% natural resin. It opens up the opportunity to recycle up to 100% of raw materials. The product improves the properties of weathered and hardened bitumen, rejuvenating old bitumen or reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP).

The future market for rejuvenators

Mobility is increasing all over the world, and road construction is growing with it. In addition to the demand for new roads, a great deal of existing pavement requires renewal due to binder aging and compromised crack resistance on the surface. If the old asphalt is not recycled, the result is large quantities of waste.

“Many roads will have to be renewed in the next few years. We estimate that the market volume worldwide and especially in the region of EMEA will increase sharply in the near future,” says Mario Sandor. RheoFalt^® HP-AM allows lower usage of new materials and leads to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. “This enables us to offer a sustainable solution for road construction and to meet these growing needs,” Sandor adds.

Excellent research capacities

Since 2015, Ventraco has been conducting research at its Innovation Centre to optimize existing solutions and develop new ones. “We see that the use of additives in bitumen needs to be controlled and improved to achieve good quality. The development of high-performance additives requires a knowledge center with high-quality test equipment and solutions,” explains Jeroen Venema, Founder and managing director of Ventraco. “We are pleased to have won BASF for sales and the joint further development of our RheoFalt^® product. Together we have excellent laboratory capacities to develop high-performance products in the future.”

Since the beginning of 2019, BASF Asphalt Performance has been working on new and sustainable solutions for asphalt mixtures within the central Asphalt Performance platform. BASF maintains two laboratories in Ludwigshafen and Trostberg aimed at developing new high-performance additives for road construction. BASF offers polymer solutions for all types of asphalt paving applications. The company is one of the world’s leading suppliers of high-quality styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) for the modification of bitumen emulsions for cold mixing applications.

For more information about BASF Asphalt Performance products: www.asphalt-performance.basf.com

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BASF’s Dispersions & Pigments division

The Dispersions & Pigments division of BASF develops, produces and markets a range of high-quality pigments, resins, additives and polymer dispersions worldwide. These raw materials are used in formulations for a number of industries, including coatings, construction, adhesives, printing and packaging, electronics and paper. With its comprehensive product portfolio and its extensive knowledge of the industry, the Dispersions & Pigments division offers its customers innovative and sustainable solutions and helps them advance their formulations. For further information about the Dispersions & Pigments division, please visit www.dispersions-pigments.basf.com.

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. More than 117,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of €59 billion in 2019. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com.

About Ventraco

Ventraco offers a complete range of solutions for performance controlled bitumen. The Ventraco Innovation Centre (VIC) develops, tests and distributes many special additives for the asphalt market. The VIC combines all of our knowledge in chemistry and practical applications. For several years, Ventraco Chemie has worked together with many asphalt plant laboratories. Ventraco Chemie has carried out chemical research and development of several additives known as the RheoFalt Series. The VIC, which uses the same distribution network as Ventraco Chemie, stands for accurate delivery, high trouble-shooting investment and excellent quality control. https://ventraco.nl/uk-en and https://rheofalt.com/

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