Ann Graham introduced Yetkin Yildirim, Ph.D. Engineering who holds several positions - Professor, Rice University STEM Projects and Director of Engineering UT-Austin as well as being the CTO and President of Terra Pave Technology, a firm that has developed an alternative to cement.
Dr. Yildirim stated that 8% of the carbon footprint in the world comes from cement. In his research at University of Texas for an alternative to cement, he developed a polymer product that can do what cement does only better for the environment as well as other advantages. The cost is about the same as traditional cement.
A good use for this product is for paving currently unpaved roads; it can also be used to re-pave cement roads. The product is ‘concrete looking’, easy applications, very short curing times, stronger than cement, does not have the dust that cement creates, and requires little to no maintenance. The Terra Pave product also does not retain heat, therefore has nominal effect on the climate, unlike cement which in some areas doesn’t cool down at night retaining heat for lengthy periods of time. The product advantage is that it allows credibility for extremely heavy truck traffic (more than 350 tons).
Current products such as asphalt are primarily oil-based which increase carbon footprints and according to Dr. Yildirim are not as strong as the Terra Pave polymer product.
Another advantage of the Terra Pave polymer is that less product is needed for roads unlike cement/concrete which may may need 6”-12” of topping whereas this polymer needs only
1”-2”. Also, the base underneath the topping only needs 12” removed, whereas traditional cement requires up to 6’ of earth to be removed and refilled with a base.
The Terra Pave polymer works by keeping the clay/dirt underneath the roadway dry; it does not allow moisture to seep into the clay for it to expand, then contract as it dries which in turn allows cracking of traditional cement roads.
Dr. Yildirim reported that this product is produced in Austin and sold, besides in the U.S. - all over the world – i.e. S. America, Europe, Africa and Asia. Their biggest customer is Exxon Mobil who tested the product ten years ago and continues to use it. Another customer of Terra Pave is now Travis County and exclusively use this product for its roadwork.
When asked about any disadvantages, Dr. Yildirim replied that mostly older engineers are accustomed to concrete and state that Terra Pave is not proven enough (it’s been tested for 10 years), so they do not want to change. However, many engineers are receiving pressure from workers to use this new polymer technology.
He let us know that if we wanted to see an example, there is a portion of the South First St (very close to our meeting location) south of Slaughter Ln driving lanes have this product (not the turn lanes or bike lanes).