When it was discovered that there was a potential risk with Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) being emitted when making their products Road Science swiftly went on a journey of how to eliminate it.

About (H2S)
Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) is a smelly, naturally occurring gas contained in many of the world’s crude oils. At high temperatures it is also formed in the refining process by the degradation of sulphur-containing compounds in crude oil. One of the products made during the refining process is bitumen. Bitumen also contains H2S gas in varying concentrations depending on the stage of the bitumen’s life cycle.

About the project

• The Road Science team used a fully integrated development process
• With collaboration with chemical suppliers and internal departments, an H2S scavenger addition system was offered as the solution
• The scavenger reacts with H2S and converts it into a non-hazardous Zinc salt
• Testing has proven that the new system has eliminated the H2S exposure risk from key hazardous zones and has improved the overall quality of the operator’s workspace

Once the trials satisfactorily proved that the scavenger would eliminate H2S from the Polymer Modified Bitumen, a permanent addition system was designed, built and commissioned by the engineering team in Lyttelton in November of 2018, one is currently being built in Mount Maunganui. Standard practice has now changed stating scavenger needs to be added to every batch of PMB that is sold.

Permanent scavenger addition system with two drums of scavenger attached to a drum pump within stationary containment.

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