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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Performance of Corrugated Pipe Manufactured with Recycled Polyethylene Content. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14570.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Performance of Corrugated Pipe Manufactured with Recycled Polyethylene Content. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14570.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Performance of Corrugated Pipe Manufactured with Recycled Polyethylene Content. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14570.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Performance of Corrugated Pipe Manufactured with Recycled Polyethylene Content. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14570.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Performance of Corrugated Pipe Manufactured with Recycled Polyethylene Content. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14570.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Performance of Corrugated Pipe Manufactured with Recycled Polyethylene Content. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14570.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Performance of Corrugated Pipe Manufactured with Recycled Polyethylene Content. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14570.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Performance of Corrugated Pipe Manufactured with Recycled Polyethylene Content. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14570.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Performance of Corrugated Pipe Manufactured with Recycled Polyethylene Content. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14570.
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TRANSPORTAT ION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2011 www.TRB.org N A T I O N A L C O O P E R A T I V E H I G H W A Y R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M NCHRP REPORT 696 Subscriber Categories Highways • Materials • Bridges and Other Structures Performance of Corrugated Pipe Manufactured with Recycled Polyethylene Content Richard W. Thomas David Cuttino TRI/ENVIRONMENTAL, INC. Austin, Texas Research sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America NCHRP REPORT 696 Project 04-32 ISSN 0077-5614 ISBN 978-0-309-21340-0 Library of Congress Control Number 2011933954 © 2011 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The members of the technical panel selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. The report was reviewed by the technical panel and accepted for publication according to procedures established and overseen by the Transportation Research Board and approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this report are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, or the program sponsors. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, and the sponsors of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of the report.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board is one of six major divisions of the National Research Council. The mission of the Transporta- tion Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal. The Board’s varied activities annually engage about 7,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other organizations and individu- als interested in the development of transportation. www.TRB.org www.national-academies.org

CRP STAFF FOR NCHRP REPORT 696 Christopher W. Jenks, Director, Cooperative Research Programs Crawford F. Jencks, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs Edward T. Harrigan, Senior Program Officer Melanie Adcock, Senior Program Assistant Eileen P. Delaney, Director of Publications Scott E. Hitchcock, Editor NCHRP PROJECT 04-32 PANEL Field of Materials and Construction—Area of General Materials Cecil L. Jones, Diversified Engineering Services, Inc., Raleigh, NC (Chair) James B. Goddard, Powell, OH Michael G. Katona, Washington State University, Gig Harbor, WA James C. Schluter, CONTECH Construction Products Inc., Franklin, OH Andrew L. Thomas, Pennsylvania DOT, Harrisburg, PA Tim Toliver, Advanced Pipe Services, Bowling Green, OH Masha B. Wilson, Nevada Department of Public Safety, Carson City, NV Eric P. Munley, FHWA Liaison G. P. Jayaprakash, TRB Liaison C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M S

This report provides potential specifications for corrugated drainage pipe manufactured with recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The report details the research performed and includes proposed draft specifications for recycled HDPE, formulations of virgin and recycled HDPE, and drainage pipe containing recycled HDPE. Thus, the report will be of immediate interest to materials engineers and bridge and structural design engineers in state highway agencies, as well as to thermoplastic pipe suppliers. The corrugated drainage pipe market in the United States consumes in excess of a billion pounds of virgin HDPE annually. Previous research has demonstrated the feasibility of blending virgin HDPE with recycled HDPE (millions of pounds of which are generated each year) to manufacture drainage pipe. To produce pipe of satisfactory quality, HDPE blends must consistently maintain critical material properties that affect pipe durability, such as strength and structural properties, density, melt index, environmental stress-crack resis- tance, and thermal stability, at the levels required by relevant AASHTO specifications. The objective of this research was to develop specifications for (1) recycled HDPE intended for use in the manufacture of corrugated drainage pipe and (2) corrugated pipe manufactured from blends of virgin and recycled HDPE. To accomplish this objective, the research examined the structural and service capabilities of corrugated drainage pipe man- ufactured with recycled HDPE content in typical transportation applications and evaluated the applicability of existing design and performance standards for corrugated drainage pipe manufactured with virgin HDPE to that containing HDPE. The research was conducted by TRI/Environmental, Inc. of Austin, Texas in three phases. In the first phase, key material properties of a wide range of post-consumer recycled (PCR) and post-industrial recycled (PIR) HDPEs were compared to those of virgin HDPEs typi- cally used to produce corrugated drainage pipe. The results showed that PCR, mixed-color, reprocessed HDPE was the preferable recycled material because of its wide availability and good consistency. In the second phase, 67 different blends of PCR mixed-color, reprocessed HDPEs and virgin HDPEs were prepared and tested to determine their suitability for pro- duction of corrugated drainage pipe of satisfactory quality and performance. In the final phase, several promising blends of recycled and virgin HDPEs were used to manufacture 15 12-in.-diameter pipe samples at three different manufacturing plants. The short-term mate- rial properties and long-term durability of these pipe samples were tested and compared to control pipe manufactured under the same conditions from virgin HDPE. Overall, the research demonstrated that (1) pipe made with a 50% or greater content of recycled HDPE can provide adequate short- and long-term properties and a service life comparable to pipe manufactured with 100% virgin HDPE and (2) the best blends are those F O R E W O R D By Edward T. Harrigan Staff Officer Transportation Research Board

that combine recycled HDPE with virgin HDPE lower in density and higher in stress-crack resistance than those typically used in the production of corrugated drainage pipe. The report fully documents the research leading to the development of draft specifica- tions for recycled HDPE, formulations of virgin and recycled HDPE, and two sizes of cor- rugated drainage pipe proposed for review and possible adoption by the AASHTO High- way Subcommittee on Materials. Besides the full text of the contractor’s final report, this report contains six printed appendixes: APPENDIX A: Procedures and Test Methods APPENDIX E: Proposed Specification for Reprocessed, Mixed-Color, PCR-HDPE APPENDIX F: Proposed Specification for Recycled Containing HDPE Resin Formulations for Corrugated Pipe Made to AASHTO Specification M252-Recycled APPENDIX G: Proposed Specification for Recycled Containing HDPE Resin Formulations for Corrugated Pipe Made to AASHTO Specification M294-Recycled APPENDIX H: Proposed Specification for Corrugated Polyethylene Drainage Pipe Containing Recycled Polyethylene, 75- to 250-mm Diameter APPENDIX I: Proposed Specification for Corrugated Polyethylene Drainage Pipe Containing Recycled Polyethylene, 300- to 1500-mm Diameter In addition, three appendixes are available to download from the NCHRP Project 04-32 web page at http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=865: APPENDIX B: Recycled Polyethylene Resins APPENDIX C: Recycled-Resin Blends APPENDIX D: Pipe Containing Recycled HDPE

C O N T E N T S 1 Summary 3 Chapter 1 Introduction 4 Chapter 2 Research Approach 4 Phase 1 – Recycled PE Resins 4 Phase 2 – Recycled-Resin Blends 4 Phase 3 – Pipe Made from Recycled-Resin Blends 4 Short-Term Properties 5 Long-Term Properties 5 Service Lifetime of PE 8 The SIM for Predicting Creep and Creep Rupture (Stage I) Properties 12 The Long-Term Stress-Crack (Stage II) Resistance 12 The FL-DOT Junction Test 13 The BFF Test 13 The Long-Term Oxidation (Stage III) Resistance 14 Specifications 15 Chapter 3 Findings 15 Phase 1 – Recycled Polyethylene Resins 15 Post-Industrial Recycled Polyethylene 16 Post-Consumer Recycled High-Density Polyethylene 17 PCR Natural Resin 17 PCR Mixed-Color Resin 18 OIT vs. OITemp 18 The Effects of Contamination 19 The Effects of Particulates 19 The Effects of Melt Filtration 21 The Effect of Silicone Rubber 24 The Effect of Polypropylene 24 Phase 2 – Recycled-Resin Blends 26 Blends Made with Mixed-Color PCR 28 Blends Made with Natural PCR 30 Blends Made with PIR-HD 32 Phase 3 – Pipe Made from Recycled-Resin Blends 32 Trial Pipe Manufacturing 32 Short-Term Properties 32 Index Test Results 34 Stress-Crack Test Results 37 AASHTO M294 Properties 37 Long-Term Properties 37 Long-Term Tensile Strength by SIM 40 Long-Term Creep Strain and Modulus by SIM

41 Long-Term Stress-Crack Resistance 42 Combined SIM (Stage I) and BFF (Stage II) Service-Lifetime Estimates 45 The BFF Test for QC 46 Designing Pipe with Recycled Content 47 Proposed Draft Specifications 49 Chapter 4 Conclusions and Suggested Research 49 Phase 1 – Recycled PE Resins 49 Phase 2 – Recycled PE Blends 50 Phase 3 – Pipe Made from Recycled-Resin Blends 54 References A-1 Appendix A Procedures and Test Methods B-1 Appendix B Recycled Polyethylene Resins B-1 Appendix C Recycled-Resin Blends B-1 Appendix D Pipe Containing Recycled HDPE E-1 Appendix E Proposed Draft Standard Specification for PCR MCR High-Density PE Bottles for Use in AASHTO-Approved Corrugated Drainage Pipe F-1 Appendix F Proposed Draft Standard for Recycled Content Containing HDPE Resin Formulations for Corrugated Pipe Made to AASHTO Standard M252-Recycled G-1 Appendix G Proposed Draft Standard Specification for Recycled Content Containing HDPE Resin Formulations for Corrugated Pipe Made to AASHTO Standard M294-Recycled H-1 Appendix H Proposed Draft Standard Specification for Corrugated Polyethylene Drainage Pipe Containing Recycled Polyethylene, 75- to 250-mm Diameter I-1 Appendix I Proposed Draft Standard Specification for Corrugated Polyethylene Drainage Pipe Containing Recycled Polyethylene, 300- to 1,500-mm Diameter Note: Many of the photographs, figures, and tables in this report have been converted from color to grayscale for printing. The electronic version of the report (posted on the Web at www.trb.org) retains the color versions.

AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There were many organizations and people who contributed to this project. Input was requested and received from virgin resin suppliers, recyclers, trade associations, and corrugated pipe manufacturers. The majority of the laboratory testing was performed by David Cuttino of TRI. The evaluation of designing with recycled-containing HDPE was performed by Sarah L. Gassman of the University of South Carolina. She wrote the section called “Designing Pipe with Recycled Content.” The companies that contributed samples to the project were: Berou International Inc. Blue Ridge Plastics LLC ChevronPhillips Chemical Co. Clean Tech, Inc. Custom Polymers Inc. Entropex, Inc. Envision Plastics Ineos Olefins and Polymers USA KW Plastics, Recycling Division LyondellBasell Advanced Polyolefins USA, Inc. Polychem Products Ltd Recyc RPM Solplast Trademark Plastics Corporation The companies that manufactured pipe for the project were: ADS Blue Diamond Industries Lane Enterprises, Inc. Individuals who contributed include: Sam Allen—TRI/Environmental Rex Bobsein—ChevronPhillips Chemical Co. John Brown—Solplast, Inc. Serge Bourret—Recyc RPM, Inc. David Cornell—Association of Post Consumer Plastic Recyclers Mark Dick—Lane Enterprises, Inc. Tamsin Ettefagh—Envision Plastics Ken Flamming—Blue Diamond Industries Adel Haddad—LyondellBasell Advanced Polyolefins USA, Inc. Mike Harris—ADS Brian Hauger—ChevronPhillips Chemical Co. Mike Kilough—Ineos Olefins and Polymers USA Jason Kroll—TRI/Environmental Tim McGrath—Simpson Gumpertz & Hegar, Inc. Jarrett Nelson—TRI/Environmental Mansukh Patel—TRI/Environmental Scott Saunders—KW Plastics Joel Sprague—TRI/Environmental Tom Walsh—Walsh Consulting

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 696: Performance of Corrugated Pipe Manufactured with Recycled Polyethylene Content provides potential specifications for corrugated drainage pipe manufactured with recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The report includes proposed draft specifications for recycled HDPE, formulations of virgin and recycled HDPE, and drainage pipe containing recycled HDPE.

The following three appendixes of NCHRP 696 are available in electronic format only.

Appendix B: Recycled Polyethylene Resins

Appendix C: Recycled-Resin Blends

Appendix D: Pipe Containing Recycled HDPE

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