2 replies to this topic

[Sevail]

Dear Engineers

May give guidelines about following information:

1. Bitumen different grade & application
2. Bitumen air blowing process

Regards
Sevail

[Qalander (Chem)]

Dear Engineers

May give guidelines about following information:

1. Bitumen different grade & application
2. Bitumen air blowing process

Regards
Sevail

Dear Hello,
Since your question is general;Reply is below
1.For the First part there are many grades mostly referring to its PEN(penetration test)
e.g. 10/20, 20/30, 30/40, 60/70& 80/100. Last two grades most used/employed commercially.
2.Bitumen or Asphalt(s) are usually the bye products Lube base stocks De-Asphalting or Lube Base Stocks upgrading(Extracts from Fufural Extraction units) and heavy Vacuum residues.All these streams are blended(mixed thoroughly)as per availability to get various grades;especially last two mentioned above.
3.Air blowing of asphalt is utilized for all the above-referred grade(s) as air blowing is an exothermic reaction initiated sustainably at or around 228 degrees Celsius(if recalled correctly)
Air Blowing needs initial fired heater usage bringing the feed stock on the required reaction temperature, however subsequently the heat exchanged among feed stream and blown asphalt product stream can suffice(most usually in tropical climates)ambient temperatures 25~45 Celsius.Air blowing traditional process has the blown air stream entrained stuff washing with gas oil (first stage)and water washing(2nd stage) but the air & fumes emitting posed environmental threats as per that technology.Resulting into almost stoppage of such facility at my previous employer since mid-eighties.
As regards usage I assume googling may be useful.
4.Normally road making, airport runways making, tank bottoms,other foundations protection and paint/cutbacks protective coating are main usage.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Qalander

[Andrei]

I totally agree, the question is extremely broad.
I would suggest though to be careful when defining the term bitumen. There is an entire oil industry in Canada and Venezuela (maybe in other parts of the world also) based on bitumen, or heavy oil in other words. I mean natural occurring bitumen deposits, in comparison with heavy ends obtained from light crude refining. And please do not put equal between bitumen and asphalt since they are completely different products.
Speaking of different bitumen grades I would suggest just to Google the words Synbit (Synthetic Bitumen) and Dilbit (Diluted Bitumen) and see what you'll get.
So Sevail, please be more specific.