PhosAgro road construction technology gained global recognition

International Fertilizer Association has included the technology of road construction with the usage of phosphogypsum produced by the Balakovo branch of Apatit (part of PhosAgro) in its guide related to the best practices for using phosphogypsum in various fields.

“This is the second edition of the guide to the best practices for using phosphogypsum in various fields,” said Boris Levin, Advisor to the General Director of Apatit. “In the current edition of the guide, the experience of using road phosphogypsum described in detail. It means the recognition of the correct and deep study of all the aspects of phosphogypsum usage.”

Before being published, the provided materials have passed a thorough examination by the International Fertilizer Association’s specialists. As a result, the full article was approved for publication. In total, the section “best practices of phosphogypsum application in road construction” presents only two proven technologies: the one is Russian, and the other one is Moroccan.

“Russian technology has one clear advantage — the environmental safety of phosphogypsum. The specialists of the International Fertilizer Association drew attention to this important aspect as well. The environmental safety of road phosphogypsum produced by the Balakovo branch of Apatit noted in the materials published in the guide. Besides, there are also examples that show both the economic efficiency of using phosphogypsum and the reduction in the cost of road construction,” concluded Boris Levin.

As of today, PhosAgro is the only company in Russia that has permission to use phosphogypsum in road construction.

A base made of phosphogypsum is up to 6 times stronger and, on average, 30% cheaper than the one, which consists of sand and crushed stone. And the maximum benefit is 100% while using phosphogypsum in the construction of regional, village, intracity, local roads. Therefore, experts consider the use of this technology as an opportunity to develop the regional road network. An important advantage of using road phosphogypsum is the replacement of natural materials, first of all, fractionated crushed stone and sand.

More than 180 thousand square meters of road have already been built using new technology in the Saratov region. They have shown high-performance characteristics and been used for a long time without patchings and major repairs.