Bitumen

-Bitumen education:
There is bitumen everywhere. Chances are, you got to the computer where you are reading this by walking over some bitumen. But where did it come from? How is it made? Read on to find out. Bitumen is a lot older than you think. Although now associated with roads and produced in large, complex, modern refineries belonging to enormous petrochemical companies (such as Shell), natural bitumen was found long before this, among the desert dunes of Arabia. Etymology The Romans called it gwitu-men (pertaining to pitch) or pixtu-men (bubbling pitch), converted, after the barbarian invasions to bitumen. The word passed into French, and then, after the Norman conquest of England in 1066, into English, where it was used interchangeably with tar for over a thousand years (though tar derives from coal, and bitumen from petroleum). Early Uses The earliest recorded use of something like bitumen was by the Sumerians, who ruled from the ancient city of Ur on the Euphrates river (near present-day Kuwait). There is evidence, too, that Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar used it for waterproofing and even as grouting for stone roads. The use of bitumen spread further West, and the Bible records a bituminous substance (tar, asphalt or bitumen, depending on the translation) was used in building the Tower of Babel. In 1595 Sir Walter Raleigh discovered a thick viscous lake in the jungles of Trinidad. This was to be the largest natural deposit of bitumen ever found and was used extensively until the mid 1970s. In the late nineteenth century, however, bitumen began to be used for the major industrial uses common today, and with those began synthetic production. Shell began major bitumen production in the UK in 1920, after opening the Shell Haven refinery. Today, Shell produces bitumen all over the world, and is at the forefront of research into new applications for this substance people have used since the dawn of civilization.

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-Bitumen in General
The building material bitumen is a high-tech product whose quality is controlled in continuously advancing test procedures. Bitumen is mostly used in roadworks - 90% of the bitumen used in Austria (500,000 t annually). The remaining 10% are converted into industrial bitumen (oxidation bitumen). Example: bitumen consumption for 1 km of the S1 The demand depends on the width of the carriageway, the thickness of the layers and the type of asphalt. The S1 is an express way and corresponds to a moderately developed motorway. Its total width is 30 m. The total bitumen required for 1 km of the S1 amounts to 524.6 t. Of the 524.6 t of material, 292.6 t are street construction bitumen and 232 t are polymer modified bitumen. Bitumen is a mixture of high and non-boiling crude oil components and is yielded via the distillation of crude oil. It is not chemically changed during this. Not all crude oils are suitable for bitumen production: what is decisive is a sufficient amount of residue from the vacuum distillation with high-boiling components above 500C. Bitumen contains, aside from pure hydrocarbon, non-metallic elements in organically bonded form (oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur), traces of phosphorus and halogens as well as traces of metals (e.g. nickel, iron and vanadium). The distribution of hydrocarbons - alcanes, naphthenes, aromatic compounds, resins, asphaltenes - in bitumen varies depending on the origin of the crude oil. History of Bitumen Long before our time, bitumen was known in its natural form as natural asphalt. Natural asphalt is a relatively hard bitumen that is found in natural deposits; it is solid at 25C and liquid at 175C. A few examples demonstrate its cultural and historical significance: In Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and Turkey) bitumen was used to seal houses and baskets 6,000 years ago - that's around 1,000 years before Oetzi the Iceman lived. In the ziggurats in Mesopotamia between 3,000 and 2,000 B.C., bitumen was used as a binding agent 10% of the time. For an average-sized temple (surface area: 60 x 45 m, height: 90m), the Sumerians, Arcadians or Babylonians used around 50,000 m3 of bitumen, corresponding to a month's worth of production of the Schwechat refinery. The word mummy, which derives from the Phoenician "mumia", means bitumen. Bitumen was only used rarely to embalm the dead in ancient Egypt; for the most part, plant oil was used. The Phoenician word "mumia" does mean bitumen, but it was actually plant oils were mostly used to embalm the dead in ancient Egypt. (Source: Corbis)

GasOilEngineering GmbH. Gymnasiumstrasse 52/4, 1090 Vienna, Austria, Telephone: +43 1 890 10 48 0, FAX: +43 1 890 10 48 11, E-mail:office@gasoil-engineering.com

In a royal gravesite in Ur, the Sumerian capital (in present-day Iraq) around 2600 B.C., a board game was found in which bitumen was used as a bonding agent for the inlays and the black coloring. In early antiquity, the main deposits of naturally occurring petroleum and/or bitumen were by the Black Sea. The export of these products brought a certain level of wealth to the people living in the area.

Bitumen & Road Construction In the road construction industry, bitumen with varying consistency is used. Depending on the requirements at hand, harder bitumen can provide increased sturdiness, while softer bitumen can provide higher flexibility. Harder bitumen can be processed at higher temperatures, but is more sensitive to environmental influences. Softer bitumen provides better resistance against environmental influences, but is also less sturdy when exposed to greater stress. The situation in Austria's alpine regions, where street paving is exposed to extreme fluctuations in temperature, places great demands on the quality of the bitumen. Conventional distillation bitumen was mainly used as a binding agent in road construction. The residue after the distillation contains enough high-molecular asphaltenes. Ideal crude oils for exclusive bitumen production come from Central America, for example. They contain up to 60% bitumen and are viscous. Austria imports bitumen crude oils from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Russia. Bitumen & Polymers Polymer-modified bitumen is bitumen to which certain plastics and polymers (macromolecules: chemical combinations of a multitude of smaller molecules) have been added. This special kind of bitumen is used for road construction in areas where heavy traffic and great stress on the paving is anticipated (e.g. motorway). Polymer-modified bitumen is more resistant to deformation and makes asphalt covers extremely durable. Bitumen is yielded during the distillation of crude oil. It is used mainly in road construction. The modification with plastics influences the properties of conventional bitumen. To improve its elastic behavior, the softening point (around 70C) is raised, the plasticity span increased and the elasticity thus improved (less deformation). The following polymers are added to bitumen:

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Thermoplastics (plastomers) consist of linear polymers with little branching. They are softened when warmed and hardened when cooled (even repeatedly). This addition raises the viscosity and stiffness of the bitumen, but not its elasticity. Elastomers consist of long, sometimes balled-up polymer chains that are linked with a wide mesh. They are rubbery elastic at low temperatures all the way to decomposition temperatures, but cannot be re-melted after being processed once. Their addition increases the viscosity of the bitumen while only marginally increasing elasticity. Thermo-elastic plastics turn soft (not liquid) like a thermoplastic at temperatures above their service temperature and can then be shaped. They combine properties of rubber and thermoplastics.

Oxidation Bitumen Oxidation bitumen is used in industrial applications, e.g. to manufacture roof and sealing sheets, or for coatings and joint sealing compounds. Oxidation bitumen is produced by having oxygen (controlled injection) act on bitumen at 230C to 270C. By attachment of oxygen, the proportion of resins and asphaltenes rises, which leads to higher viscosity and a clear hardening of the binding agent. OMV uses a specially developed procedure (Biturox procedure) for the oxidation technology and uses high-performance air injection reactors that inject and distribute air and water across large surfaces. Test Procedures The properties of bitumen that are used in Austria and Europe are primarily evaluated by means of empirical test procedures. Among other things, these describe their elasticity and viscosity, their adhesion behavior, their solubility, their hardening stability, their flash point, their paraffin content and their shelf life. Recently, examinations of bitumen have focused on the rheological properties of bitumen. Rheology is the science of flowing substances and describes, using physical characteristics, the deformation of a substance when subjected to loading by external forces. This can be described by physical parameters such as shear modulus, phase difference or tensile stiffness. Bitumen is a visco-elastic substance, i.e. its behavior can be described using an elastic and a viscous component. This behavior can be presented with the aid of the Maxwell model. The rheometer measures the properties of bitumen especially in the upper temperature rang

GasOilEngineering GmbH. Gymnasiumstrasse 52/4, 1090 Vienna, Austria, Telephone: +43 1 890 10 48 0, FAX: +43 1 890 10 48 11, E-mail:office@gasoil-engineering.com

-Solutions for Bitumenpacking

Today there is only limited solutions for Bitumen packing in the market. The only widespread transport tool established are so far bitumen drums , containing many disadvantages. Gasoili engineering has new solutions to offer for Bitumen packing, containing various logistical and financial advantages compared to drums. Please contact us for further information.

GasOilEngineering GmbH. Gymnasiumstrasse 52/4, 1090 Vienna, Austria, Telephone: +43 1 890 10 48 0, FAX: +43 1 890 10 48 11, E-mail:office@gasoil-engineering.com