Development of Encapsulated Palm Oil Fractions for Controlled Release Rejuvenation of Bitumen

Encapsulated rejuvenation with sunflower oil has been widely studied as a method to enhance the self-healing ability of bitumen. However, palm oil fractions, which are abundant in Malaysia, have yet to be investigated in-depth as rejuvenators. Hence, this study evaluates palm cooking oil, palm mid fraction, and palm stearin for their rejuvenating ability in bitumen. Calcium alginate, a popular encapsulation material, possesses sufficient compressive strength to resist traffic loading. However, its sponge-like behavior can result in premature rejuvenator release under stress. Therefore, the layered encapsulation method will be assessed in this work as a possible solution to control rejuvenator release.