Sustainable Development Goals
Current Project Status:
Completed | Feasibility Study
Organizations Involved:
Klean Industries, BMT Group Construction, Several Tyre Recycling Companies
Services:
Design & Engineering, Component Supply, Feasibility Study, Due Diligence, Supply Chain Management
Klean Industries and BMT Construction Group are pioneering the production of circular roads in Vietnam, utilizing TPO and crumb rubber to blend recycled tire materials into both the fuel and the asphalt mix, creating high-performance, fully recyclable pavement.
Introduction:
Vietnam’s booming infrastructure sector is laying thousands of kilometers of new roads each year to support economic growth and regional connectivity. But traditional asphalt production is carbon-intensive, resource-depleting, and heavily reliant on virgin fossil fuels. As Vietnam strives to reduce emissions and embrace circular economy principles, back in 2012 Klean Industries and BMT Construction Group collaborated to investigate and develop a groundbreaking approach and opportunity: producing 100% recyclable roads using tire-derived materials specifically, tire pyrolysis oil (TPO) as both a fuel and a binder modifier, and crumb rubber as a polymer additive in high-performance, rubberized asphalt.
This initiative marks a significant milestone in circular infrastructure, utilizing end-of-life tires to create roads and then returning those roads to the resource cycle at the end of their lifespan.
The Challenge:
Conventional road construction in Vietnam relies on fossil-based bitumen and diesel fuels, both of which are imported and subject to volatile costs. Simultaneously, the country faces a growing end-of-life tire (ELT) problem, with millions of scrap tires generated annually and limited environmentally sound disposal options.
The asphalt industry in Vietnam, while modernizing rapidly, still lacks scalable systems to integrate sustainable materials into mainstream production. Key technical hurdles include fuel compatibility in burners, binder formulation stability when modified with alternative oils, and the integration of crumb rubber into polymer-modified asphalt (PMA) without compromising viscosity, durability, or temperature performance.
Moreover, achieving a closed-loop system where waste tires not only provide fuel but also become part of the road surface itself requires both technological innovation and commercial commitment.
The Solution:
This project offers a transformative opportunity to address three major problems at once:
By using TPO as both a fuel and a binder additive, and pairing it with crumb rubber, the project delivers a fully circular, fully functional road surface that meets performance standards while dramatically improving lifecycle sustainability. The long-term impact includes extending pavement life, reducing maintenance costs, and reducing both greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and landfill dependency.
The Outcome:
At the heart of this initiative is the knowledge shared regarding pyrolysis technologies, including Klean Industries’ proprietary technologies for plastic and tires, with a focus on utilizing tire-derived products, such as those extracted from end-of-life tires, to produce high-quality TPO, carbon black, and steel. The TPO produced is refined and conditioned for use in two key roles at BMT’s asphalt production sites:
BMT Construction Group, with multiple state-of-the-art asphalt plants across Vietnam, brings the production capacity and in-house lab testing to scale this technology. Utilizing in-line blending systems and advanced temperature control, they consistently mix crumb rubber and TPO-enhanced binders into hot-mix asphalt batches, achieving performance metrics that meet or exceed conventional road specifications.
The result is a next-generation pavement that is:
This collaboration not only creates a blueprint for tire-to-road systems in Southeast Asia but also showcases how targeted technology deployment, local partnerships, and circular design thinking can reshape national infrastructure from the ground up.
Vietnam is proving that world-class infrastructure can be built from waste. With tire pyrolysis oil and crumb rubber powering and enhancing every kilometer of pavement, this project sets a new standard for circular road construction.
Explore how your organization can replicate this model.
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