The European Patent Office has awarded Sorigué with European patent number 2571940: "Bituminous emulsion and composite material for road containing it". The patent protects the production of a bituminous emulsion that is manufactured using a reversed-phase, laminar regime method without the use of of a colloidal mill.

This manufacturing process is environmentally sustainable, given that the emulsion is manufactured at a low temperature, meaning that the bitumens used in its manufacture are kept at temperatures below 100ºC, compared to conventional systems in which bitumens are heated to temperatures of up to 150-180ºC.

This temperature reduction translates into energy savings and an associated decrease in the amount of CO2 emitted in the reversed-phase emulsion manufacturing process.

This new emulsion is characterized by its ability to incorporate waste ground tire powder, an average drop size (0.5) lower than that obtained with a colloidal mill, and a low polydispersion value, below 1.5. This drop measurement, together with a narrow distribution, translates into emulsions that can have a very high specific surface area; in other words, greater coverage can be achieved with the same concentration of residual bitumen as a conventional emulsion with a greater drop size. 

In addition, the small drop size contributes to a higher emulsion viscosity and greater stability in storage. The result is a more efficient emulsion formulation that conventional emulsions.

This system is especially good for manufacturing concentrated emulsions, making it possible to achieve emulsions with a bitumen content between 70 and 90%.