L’Eco di Bergamo
04/08/2020
Among the Bergamo-based companies that have made possible the birth of the San Giorgio bridge in Genoa in record time, there is also Iterchimica, which has donated the Gipave® additive for asphalt, born from the collaboration with the Como-based graphene startup Directa Plus, the University of Milan Bicocca and G.Eco. Particular sign, indeed dual: a green soul but also high-tech. A gesture of symbolic value important for the company that for more than half a century has been providing builders with high-tech products for asphalt that have high performance and respect for the environment. Gipave® is technically a latest generation polymeric supermodifier based on graphene and “hard” plastics: it has been designed for the construction and maintenance of durable and eco-sustainable road pavements and has already been tested in Italy, as well as abroad. How does it work? Through an innovative patented selection process, plastics normally destined for waste-to-energy plants (defined as “hard”) can be recycled and reused in future production cycles. Already this represents an element with a strong green imprint, which creates value in the long term: this also reduces the extractions in quarries. But there is the other connected aspect, and no less relevant: this additive in fact doubles the life of road pavements, improves their mechanical properties and strength. Hard as a diamond, flexible as plastic, they say. With Gipave®, the “useful” life of the asphalt (i.e. its effective and efficient permanence on site) has grown by 250% compared to traditional asphalt. This results in reduced maintenance costs and triggers a circular economy model. The gift to the city of Genoa of the company led by Federica Giannattasio is therefore particularly significant: a gesture of solidarity that looks to the future from every perspective. The additive that will help give new life to the Ligurian viaduct, as mentioned, has already undergone important experiments, starting from busy roads such as the Provincial Ardeatina road in Rome. Gipave was then used on the Milano-Meda, on the Provincial Lachiarella and in Bergamo Circonvallazione Fabriciano roads. A test had also been carried out at Fiumicino airport on a section of the runway reserved for intercontinental flights and at the Cagliari airport. Not to mention the interventions in England and has also been sought in America and Oman. Iterchimica was founded in 1967 by Gabriele Giannattasio and its market spans over 90 countries.
M. Lua.
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