Background: The insecticide dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) is widely used in indoor residual spraying (IRS) for malaria control owing to its longer residual efficacy in the field compared to other World Health Organization (WHO) alternatives. Suitable stabilization to render these alternative insecticides longer lasting could provide a less controversial and more acceptable and effective alternative insecticide formulations than DDT. Methods: This study sought to investigate the reasons behind the often reported longer lasting behaviour of DDT by exposing all the WHO approved insecticides to high temperature, high humidity and ultra-violet light. Interactions between the insecticides and some mineral powders in the presence of an aqueous medium were also tested. Simple insecticidal paints were made using slurries of these mineral powders whilst some insecticides were dispersed into a conventional acrylic paint binder. These formulations were then spray painted on neat and manure coated mud plaques, representative of the material typically used in rural mud houses, at twice the upper limit of the WHO recommended dosage range. DDT was applied directly onto mud plaques at four times the WHO recommended concentration and on manure plaques at twice WHO recommended concentration. All plaques were subjected to accelerated ageing conditions of 40°C and a relative humidity of 90%. Results: The pyrethroids insecticides outperformed the carbamates and DDT in the accelerated ageing tests. Thus UV exposure, high temperature oxidation and high humidity per se were ruled out as the main causes of failure of the alternative insecticides. Gas chromatography (GC) spectrograms showed that phosphogypsum stabilised the insecticides the most against alkaline degradation (i.e., hydrolysis). Bioassay testing showed that the period of efficacy of some of these formulations was comparable to that of DDT when sprayed on mud surfaces or cattle manure coated surfaces. Conclusions: Bioassay experiments indicated that incorporating insecticides into a conventional paint binder or adsorbing them onto phosphogypsum can provide for extended effective life spans that compare favourably with DDT's performance under accelerated ageing conditions. Best results were obtained with propoxur in standard acrylic emulsion paint. Similarly, insecticides adsorbed on phosphogypsum and sprayed on cattle manure coated surfaces provided superior lifespans compared with DDT sprayed directly on a similar surface.

Economic development results in increased traffic and higher traffic loads that often cause serious asphalt pavement problems, such as permanent deformation, fatigue cracking, and reduced lifetime. Polymers are seen as viable asphalt additives to minimize these problems. However, their incorporation reduces the workability of the material due to the increase in the viscosity of the blend. This study evaluates the effect of the addition of soybean oil on the physical, rheological, and thermal properties of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)-modified asphalt binder. The HDPE was kept at 5 wt.% and the soybean oil the asphalt was varied from 1 to 7 wt.%. A series of tests was conducted to evaluate the binders, comprising conventional tests (penetration, softening point, and ductility) rheological performance tests (dynamic viscosity and short-term aging (RTFO), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The addition of HDPE reduced the penetration and increased the softening point and viscosity. The oil reduced steadily the viscosity, improved the workability and the thermal susceptibility of the modified asphalt up to 3 wt.% of oil, and reduced about 92% mass gain after aging. Hence, the oil is considered a good modifier agent for the improvement of polymer-modified asphalt’s workability under service conditions.

In order to meet the environmental needs caused by large plastic waste accumulation, in the road construction sector, an effort is being made to integrate plastic waste with the function of polymer into asphalt mixtures; with the purpose of improving the mechanical performance of the pavement layers. This study focuses on the effect of a recycled mixture of plastic waste on the chemical, thermal, and rheological properties of designed asphalt blends and on the identification of the most suitable composition blend to be proposed for making asphalt mixture through a dry modification method. Thermo-gravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis were carried out to investigate the effect of various concentrations and dimensions of plastic waste (PW) on the neat binder (NB). The frequency sweep test and the multiple stress creep and recovery test were performed to analyze the viscoelastic behavior of the asphalt blends made up of PW in comparison with NB and a commercial modified bitumen (MB). It has been observed that the presence of various types of plastic materials having different melting temperatures does not allow a total melting of PW powder at the mixing temperatures. However, the addition of PW in the asphalt blend significantly improved the aging resistance without affecting the oxidation process of the plastic compound present in the asphalt blend. Furthermore, when the asphalt blend mixed with 20% PW by the weight of bitumen is adopted into the asphalt mixture as polymer, it improves the elasticity and strengthens the mixture better than the mixture containing MB.