OREANDA-NEWS. March 3, 2010. The Supervisory Council of RUSNANO has approved a project to expand production of Unirem, a paving asphalt modifier developed and manufactured by Novy Kauchuk. The modifier raises the durability of pavements by 30 percent.

Total budget for the project is 1.85 billion rubles of which RUSNANO will invest 1.29 billion rubles, including 990 million rubles in loans.

Under the project, plant facilities belonging to Novy Kauchuk will be reconstructed and expanded, allowing the company to increase production of the Unirem modifier from 700 tons in 2009 to 3,000 tons in 2010 and to 10,000 tons in 2011. In the future, a second facility will be built; it will have production capacity of 30,000 tons.

The Unirem modifier is produced by grinding used tires at high temperatures and under high pressure. Particles in the modifier possess a micro- and nanomosaic structure, making the pavement resistant to water and cyclical deformations from temperature changes and impervious to cracks and ruts. As a result, the pavement’s service life is increased by a third and the time between repairs is lengthened by 25 percent to 30 percent.

“The project provides an important environmental benefit. As we know, old automobile tires do not decompose naturally, thus their utilization is a critical environmental challenge. Today only 65,000 tons—five percent to eight percent of all tires disposed of each year—enter recycling,” notes RUSNANO Managing Director Sergey Polikarpov.

In keeping with the federal target program for development of the Russian transportation system in 2010–2015, the government will allocate as much as 4.3 trillion rubles for construction and reconstruction of the country’s roads and highways. The potential market for paving modifiers , based on plans for construction, reconstruction, and repair of roads in Russia, is estimated at more than 10 billion rubles per year.

Novy Kauchuk was established in 2004. The company is oriented toward commercial introduction of technology for high-temperature shear grinding of polymer materials. The company employs highly qualified specialists. It has worked for many years in the development of high-filled polymer materials using thermoplastics and rubber compounds with special characteristics.