Nanotechnology for sustainability

Zydex’s advanced nano technologies are transforming road and bridge construction by extending service life, minimising resource consumption, and ensuring climate resilience while maintaining structural integrity and aesthetics.

Can you provide an overview of your company and the range of solutions you offer in this industry?
Zydex is a speciality chemicals company founded in 1997 by Dr. Ajay Ranka to innovate for sustainability. The company has a footprint in roads, textiles, agriculture, paints and waterproofing for buildings, with a global footprint in +40 countries. Zydex nanotechnologies for roads were developed in 2008 and recognised for research as the best technology by the International Roads Federation, USA, in 2013. They improve performance during service life and extend the life of pavements and bridges. The technologies enhance sustainability by ensuring longer pavement service life, allowing the use of in-situ and marginal materials, and reducing the use of aggregates and bitumen emulsions by 50 percent and bitumen binder. The users get smoother rides, pothole-free roads, clean bridges, and flyovers without deterioration in aesthetics or structural damage.

What are the latest innovations in materials used for road and bridge construction that enhance durability, sustainability, and cost-efficiency?
Zydex has made important advancements in nanotechnology for the construction of roads and bridges, improving the quality and lifespan of these assets and drastically reducing the usage of resources like bitumen binders and aggregates. Their innovations guarantee the creation of dimensionally stable, water-resistant, high-strength, flexible, nano-bonded stabilised bases with a longer fatigue life, fewer undulations, and fewer deflections. Furthermore, their chemically bonded bitumen mixes increase the service life of bitumen layers to 10–12 years.

Using warm mix asphalt nanotechnology additives to lower manufacturing and compaction temperatures, Zydex also helps preserve the environment by saving 10-15 crore litres of LDO/diesel. They also offer greater inter-layer bond strength with less bitumen emulsion because of their chemically bonded tack and prime coatings. Bridges’ structural integrity and aesthetic appeal are further guaranteed by nanotechnology, which turns concrete surfaces hydrophobic to shield them from water damage.

How can infrastructure projects incorporate climate-resilient designs and materials to withstand varying environmental conditions and ensure longevity?
With the stakeholders’ increasing sensitivity to delivering infrastructure projects with longer lives, there is a recognition and thrust to use climate-resilient designs and materials to account for the harsh climatic conditions of high temperatures, massive rainfall, and snowy conditions.

The stellar scheme of PMGSY of NRIDA of the Government of India has successfully adopted stabilisation with chemicals additives since 2015 and reconstruction of existing roads with the FDR technique since 2020.  In Rural roads, PMGSY and MMGSY technology has been used for building water-resistant stabilised and FDR bases in 2700 Km’s since 2015 in many states of India. NHIDCL, NHAI, DONER & BRO have also initiated the use of soil stabilisation technologies and bitumen additives in Highways in different parts of India. BIS has made the existing standards more stringent to ensure that the bitumen layers have been sustained under heavy rainfall conditions since 2017. The highways across the country have implemented the standard, but there is a lot to be done in the state highways and PWD works.     

What proactive maintenance strategies and technologies minimise disruptions, extend infrastructure lifespan, and optimise operational efficiency?
Advanced technologies and non-destructive testing assess the remaining life of infrastructure like roads, bridges, and flyovers, minimising costly replacements and reducing unexpected failures. Tools such as asset management systems, life cycle cost analysis, and risk-based maintenance ensure optimal operation and longevity. Zydex ensures stringent quality checks and safety standards throughout construction and maintenance. They offer ground engineering support to ensure accurate testing, extend infrastructure life, and have dedicated quality assurance teams overseeing every stage. Collaborating with bodies like BIS, CRRI, and IRC, Zydex focuses on innovative technologies to prolong construction phases and defer maintenance, enhancing sustainability.

For more detail, visit: https://zydexgroup.com/

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