Tag Archive for: Polymer Modified Bitumen

Indonesia is one of the countries that focuses on infrastructure development to support the areas of connectivity and accelerate economic growth while maintaining the global commitment to GHG emission reduction. In order to support the above objectives, competitive bitumen prices with less GHG emissions are foreseen for the infrastructure’s development. Polymer Modified Bitumen (PMB) is one of the materials that is used for the pavement application that could provide 16.99% less GHG emissions compared to the unmodified bitumen due to their capability to provide similar performance with the thinner pavement layer requirement. There are 3 common PMB production processes recognized in the industry, such as Low Shear Mill Technology, High Shear Mill Technology, and Mobile PMB Plant. The Capital Budgeting technique (NPV, IRR, Profitability Index, Payback Period), internal and external analysis such as PESTEL and Porter’s five forces analysis are used to support the decision making for the right technology selection for the PMB processing plant in order to stay competitive in the Bitumen market. The economic analysis has shown that the low shear technology generates an NPV of IDR 186.573.816.286 with an IRR of 75,90%, the high shear technology generates an NPV of IDR 179.179.736.676 with an IRR of 62,39% and the mobile PMB plant generates an NPV of IDR 243.276.282.784, with an IRR of 68,37%. In addition to the highest NPV, the mobile PMB plant has the full flexibility to be mobilized to any project location, especially in remote areas where other production technologies are not available. Based on the above analysis, the mobile PMB plant is the right technology to be selected for the PMB provision to support the infrastructure development in Indonesia.