Bituminous mixes.

Definition, Manufacture, Grades, Uses

Bituminous materials have been known and used in construction works since ancient times, approximately 6000 B.C.
Uses of bitumen in the olden times;
 Asphalts were used as cements to hold stonework together, in boat building and as waterproofing in pools and baths.
 Some asphalt was mixed with sand and used to pave streets and palace floors.
 The Egyptians made use of asphalt as a building material.
 The Greeks and Romans used asphalt as a building material but also used burning asphalt as a military weapon. The asphalt used by these ancient civilizations was
natural asphalt formed when crude petroleum oils rose to the earth’s surface and formed pools.
 Using crude distillation process, cementing and waterproofing materials were obtained.

What is bitumen? Many

microscopic organisms lived, died, and decayed in these forests and formed the basis for the production of coal deposits. With the accumulation of sediment layers and their
gradual transformation under heat and pressure over many years, great bituminous coalfields created.
These ancient deposits are now the source of natural bitumen in various countries, including Canada, Venezuela, and Oman. Known also as oil sands, the deposits are now a
mixture of sand, clay, and water, saturated with a dense and extremely viscous bitumen. Although large natural reservoirs
of bitumen exist in many parts of the world, most of the bitumen produced in the world is derived from crude oil. Natural bitumen extraction is more complicated than refining
bitumen, therefore it will cost the producers more. It is also interesting to know that natural bitumen contains up to 5% sulfur, heavy metals, and other impurities that must be
refined.

Bitumen is a by-product of crude oil. -Bitumen has two main types, natural and refined. The refined type of bitumen is produced by the distillation of crude oil, while the
natural type of bitumen is extracted from bituminous sands and rocks that formed in nature within 360 million years. When extracted from the underground reservoirs, natural
bitumen is impure and needs to be refined. In addition to that, the extraction of natural bitumen needs technological advancements. That’s why most of the bitumen consumed
across the world is refined bitumen, not the natural one. After taking crude oil to an atmospheric distillation column in refineries, we heat it to temperatures between 300 and 350
degrees Celsius. As a result, lighter fractions of crude oil separate from non-boiling components. This process leaves a sticky substance at the bottom of the column, which we
call the vacuum bottom, and use as the raw material for producing refined bitumen. Bitumens are mainly composed of a mixture of high-molecular hydrocarbons, methane,
napthane and other aromatic series and their oxygen or sulphur derivatives.

It is composed of complex hydrocarbons and contains elements such as calcium, iron, sulphur, and hydrogen.

1. PROCESSING (Fractional distillation) - Bitumen is a substance produced through the distillation of crude oil that is known for its waterproofing and adhesive
properties. Bitumen production through distillation removes lighter crude oil components, such as gasoline and diesel, leaving the “heavier” bitumen behind. It is then
refined several times to improve its grade.
Bitumens and bituminous materials are being extensively used in damp proofing the basements, floors, roofs, damp proof courses; painting timber and steel structural elements;
as adhesives and caulking compounds, insulating due to its durability, modifiability, and recyclability, and tars are used as binders in road works. When combined with aggregate
these are also used to provide floor surfaces. Bitumen is now more commonly used for building purposes than is tar.
Manufacture of Bitumen The manufacture of bitumen is
a lengthy process which is represented briefly in the below flowchart. The bitumen is a residual material. The final bitumen property will depend upon the extent of extraction,
the viscosity, and the distillation process. The present refinery plant has the capability to extract bitumen more precisely as the required viscosity and consistency.

Bitumen is a petroleum based material, Bitumen is an adhesive material composed of complex hydrocarbons. (bitumen is a sticky petroleum suitable for binding other
materials) used for binding stones and sands and producing asphalt for road construction. In the normal process of an oil refinery, crude oil is heated in an atmospheric distillation
column. This will lead to the separation of various parts of crude oil according to their molecular weight. The heaviest part of the oil that remains at the bottom of the distillation
column, is called Vacuum Bottom and forms the raw material for producing refined bitumen. For processing vacuum bottom and producing bitumen, we transfer it to another
refinery. There, we use various methods of processing VB, including blowing, blending, mixing vacuum bottom with water or solvents, and modifying it with polymers, so that
we can provide the bitumen market with various types and grades of bitumen.

2. NATURAL EXTRACTION – Bitumen can also occur in nature: Deposits of naturally occurring bitumen form at the bottom of ancient lakes, where prehistoric organisms
have since decayed and have been subjected to heat and pressure. Natural sources of bitumen have been in use in the world. For thousands of years, human beings extracted
bitumen from lakes and rocks.
The asphalt found from the lake are refined to a partial state by heating it to a temperature of 160 0C. This is done in open skill to remove out the excess water. Later the material
is filtered. This is then barreled and transported. It is hard to use the material directly on the roads as it consists of 55% of bitumen, mineral matter of 35% and 10% of organic
matter. This even after treatment is blended with refinery bitumen before use.
.
Nowadays, the material is used most often in road paving. The majority of roads are made of either bitumen or a combination of bitumen and aggregates, such as concrete. A key
benefit, other than its adhesive and waterproofing qualities, is that engineers replacing asphalt roads can reuse the material on other road projects. Bitumen is also commonly used
by manufacturers in the creation of roofing products. 

Tar And Asphalt Are The Two Varieties Of Bituminous Materials.

Difference between bitumen and tar -Tar is a viscous black liquid that is distilled from coal or wood. We use tar because of its wonderful properties as a water proofing and
sealing agent. Bitumen and tar are very similar in terms of appearance, but their properties are too different. Tar has a wide variety of applications including waterproofing,
coating timbers, and skin caring. In comparison to bitumen, tar has a higher amount of carbon, is a better adhesive, and becomes more fluid when heated. However, few people
use tar instead of bitumen in road construction. Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials
through destructive distillation.
Destructive distillation is a chemical process in which decomposition of unprocessed material is achieved by heating it to a high temperature; the term generally applies to
processing of organic material in the absence of air or in the presence of limited amounts of oxygen or other reagents, catalysts, or solvents, such as steam or phenols. It is an
application of pyrolysis. The process breaks up or 'cracks' large molecules. Coke, coal gas, gaseous carbon, coal tar, ammonia liquor, and coal oil are examples of commercial
products historically produced by the destructive distillation of coal.

Tars are bituminous condensates obtained in the process of destructive distillation of coal, petroleum, wood and other organic materials at high temperature without access of air.
They are composed of hydrocarbons and their sulphurous, nitrous and oxygen derivatives.

Asphalt on the other hand is a naturally occurring bitumen which is a combination of an inorganic mineral matter either calcareous or siliceous and an organic matter—a
chemical compound of carbon and hydrogen. Asphalt is a mixture of bitumen with sand or gravel.

The main difference between bitumen and tar lies in the fact that each material is derived from various sources. Bitumen is distilled from crude oil, but tar is produced from coal
or wood. Based on their sources, these two materials have different properties and applications, therefore, we cannot use tar instead of bitumen.   Bitumen and asphalt are
different materials, too. Bitumen is an adhesive material, perfect for binding sands and stones and producing asphalt for road construction. Bitumen alone is not suitable for
paving roads. Refined bitumen is not the only type of bitumen. Before processing crude oil, The bitumen that comes from lakes, contains 40 to 70 % of pure bitumen. To purify
the bitumen, we boil it until the water in it completely evaporates and the impurities are separated. Rock bitumen, also known as oil sands, are sedimentary sources that contain 5
to 15 % bitumen. The main procedure for extracting bitumen from rocks is crushing, heating, and separating bitumen from other materials.

What Are Different Types Of Bitumen? Since various kinds of crude

oils give various types of bitumen with completely different properties, grading bitumen is vital. For grading bitumen based on their properties, refineries use a number of
standard tests to measure the viscosity level, penetration value, performance, and consistency of bitumen. The result of these tests is bitumen penetration grades and viscosity
grades. Other grades of bitumen, including cutback bitumen, oxidized bitumen, and
bitumen emulsions are classified based on their production process. Quality and usage of this oil product may vary based on two factors: the
source of crude oil and refining process

Difference between bitumen and asphalt In various countries, people use these two terms interchangeably. to avoid mistakes, we need to know that. This substance has
special adhesive properties that make it ideal for mixing with sands and producing asphalt. Asphalt, therefore, is the mixture of sands and bitumen. We use asphalt for paving
roads.

What are bituminous roads? In some parts of the word, it is possible to use bitumen alone for paving roads. In this
method of road construction, we set up a layer of bitumen and top it with aggregates. We then repeat this process to create a two coated seal. We can also use bitumen between
various layers of a road for sealing them.About 85% of all bitumen around the world is used in the asphalt pavements in roads, airports, parking lots, etc. The other 15% stands
for roofing, water pipes coating, waterproofing, and sealing materials.

Why we have different bitumen grades? Different

grading systems of bitumen vary due to different bitumen tests procedures. Since bitumen coming from crude oil has different characteristics and applications, a number of
bitumen tests is used to configure the viscosity level, penetration value, performance, consistency etc. There are also 3 different categories of bitumen based on production
process, including cutback bitumen, oxidized bitumen, and emulsion bitumen; which we will focus on bellow.

Bitumen is classified in 5 categories as below: Viscosity

Grading; the preferred method of classifying bitumen Bitumen is graded based
on absolute viscosity at 60 ºC or a kinematic viscosity at 135 ºC. The SI physical unit of dynamic viscosity is Poise and kinematic viscosity is expressed in Centistokes. After
producing bitumen, we test them and measure their level of viscosity. This testing system introduces four VG grades, including  VG10, VG20, VG30, and VG40. The higher the
number, the harder the bitumen in the viscosity grading system. One of the most prominent ways of grading bitumen is based on the results of viscosity test. This test is done for
determining the fluid property of bitumen. Conducting viscosity test on bitumen leads to the classification of bitumen in a range of grades from V-10 to V-40. It is good to know
that low viscosity bitumen is great for spraying and pavement maintenance, mainly because it is softer.

Performance Grades of bitumen; which grade is more reliable? PG

is the latest standard of the day. This relatively new method classified bitumen is based on varying temperatures. It is a fully scientific method studying the mechanical
specifications of bitumen. In this method, a temperature range is defined for bitumen and the consumer can easily choose the desired product. Today, a PG is defined for polymer
modified bitumen and pure bitumen based on environmental conditions and temperature. A wider PG range means higher resistance and more favorable specifications.
Performance grades of bitumen are classified based on tests related to bitumen performance in various temperatures. Known also as superpave performance grading of bitumen,
these grades of bitumen are better solutions for engineers who want to avoid raveling, fatigue cracking and thermal cracking.

Penetration grades; Which one is better: The Hardest or the Softest? Graded
Bitumen is classified by the depth to which a standard needle will penetrate under specified test conditions. This “pen” test classification is used to indicate the hardness of
bitumen, lower penetration indicating a harder bitumen. Specifications for penetration graded bitumens normally state the penetration range for a grade, e.g. 50/70. Other tests are
used to classify the bitumen for specification purposes, such as softening point, solubility, flash point etc. These grades of bitumen are named due to
their level of hardness and consistency of bituminous materials. The harder the bitumen solution the better it is for using in hot temperatures. Generally speaking, bitumen
penetration grades have a thermoplastic property which causes bitumen to get soft at high temperature and hard at low temperature. Bitumen 40/50, 60/70, 80/100, 85/100 are
useful for road construction in various climate.

Cutback bitumen grades, no need to heat These

are bitumen grades are produced by adding solvents to bitumen, in order to decrease the viscosity level. This procedure involves the addition of controlled amounts of petroleum
extracts such as kerosene, naphtha, diesel oil, and furnace oil to bitumen. Cutback bitumen doesn’t need heating. In comparison to other types of bitumen, the volatile solvents in
cutback bitumen met the need for heating by alleviating its viscosity. Cold weather is the place where cutback bitumen is widely used.

Bitumen Emulsion; Good Friends of the Environment Bitumen

Emulsion came to the industry to avoid the environmental damages of cutback bitumen. Since cutback bitumen include volatile solvents which are toxic to nature, human and
environment.The bitumen content in the emulsion is around 60% and the remaining is water. As a result, water is released when the emulsion is applied on the road and the mix
starts to set. There is also another reason behind bitumen emulsion grades becoming energy efficient: there is no need to heat them. This product is beneficiary to waterproofing
and coating in road construction. Convenient transportation, economic efficiency, and safety at work are the main advantages of this product when it comes to asphalt specialists.

Oxidized Bitumen; Modified to Various Industrial Uses

To make bitumen more resistant to temperature, we can blow air into bitumen and produce oxidized bitumen. Known as blown bitumen, Oxidized or blown bitumen grades are
named after the way they are produced, this type of bitumen is ideal for various industrial purposes, including roof insulation, flooring, industrial mastics, pipe coating, and
paints. Blown asphalt comes from hot air blown to pure bitumen in the last stage of refining. In this process, hot air having 200-300 degree centigrade temperature is blown to
bitumen container with porous tubes. In this process, hydrogen atoms in bitumen hydrocarbon are combined with oxygen in the air and by forming water, polymerization
happens. Compared with pure bitumen, blown bitumen has a low penetration rate and a high softness point. This kind of bitumen is used in making roof sheets, automobile
battery, and coating. . By blowing air into bitumen, the
substance becomes rubbery. Among unique specifications of blown bitumen are flexibility, increased durability, and resistance to water. When the oxidation happens to bitumen,
it will also use its water content and become less volatile and less temperature-susceptible. Passing air through bitumen at elevated temperature can be used to alter its physical
properties for certain commercial applications. The degree of oxidation can range from very small, often referred to as air-rectification, or semi-blowing, which only slightly
modifies the bitumen properties, through to “full” blowing, whereby the properties of the bitumen are significantly different to penetration grade bitumen. Nomenclature and
grading for the oxidized bitumen products are based on a combination of the temperature at which the bitumen reaches certain “softness” when being heated up as expressed by
the ring and ball softening point test, and the penetration value..

Most used grades of bitumen There is

no good or bad when it comes to various grades of bitumen; however, it is important to choose the best bitumen grade based on their application in various temperatures.
Engineers are more impressed by bitumen viscosity grades, due to the reliability of viscosity test. India market, on the other hand, is more attracted to bitumen penetration grades,
specifically 60/70 pen grade. This type of bitumen is equivalent to an AC-10 viscosity grade, which is volatile in some applications. It is though concluded in some Indian
industries to change to viscosity grades of bitumen to achieve long term performance of bitumen.

Polymer modified bitumen Polymer

modified bitumen (PMB) are mixtures produced from: bitumen polymers in which the polymers change the visco-elastic behavior of the bitumen and thus make this binder more
suitable for different stresses. The most commonly used
polymer for bitumen modification is styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) followed by other polymers such as styrene–butadiene–rubber (SBR), ethylene-vinyl-acetate (EVA), and
polyethylene. SBS block copolymers are classified as elastomers that increase the elasticity of bitumen. Although polymer modified bitumen costs higher than pure bitumen, they
are considered to be more economical because of economic benefits of lower costs of road repairs. Bituminous Materials are of different types. Bituminous Materials is available
in a variety of types and grades. The different types of Bituminous Materials are explained below

Bituminous Materials The

different types of Bituminous Materials are

1. Asphalt
2. Bitumen
3. Cutback Bitumen
4. Bitumen Emulsion
5. Tar

1. Asphalt-It is a mechanical mixture of inter mineral matter. There are two categories of asphalt, they are (a) Natural Asphalt and (b) Residual asphalt. The natural asphalt
obtains naturally. The residual asphalt occurs by fractional distillation of crude petroleum oil with an asphalt base.

2. Bitumen-It is a complex organic material occurs naturally and artificially at the distillation of petroleum. These bitumen possess some desirable properties. They are,

 Durability
 Good adhesion with aggregate
 Better compaction and
 Easy mixability

3. Cutback Bitumen- Mixed bitumen is a term used

to refer to a mixture of bitumen and a suitable liquid (for example kerosene or gasoline). This bitumen in normal environment temperature is liquid or is changed to liquid with a
little heat. Mixed bitumen is used in different kinds of macadam and coating asphalts. The speed of its clotting or hardening depends on the kind of liquid. For example, because
of the high speed of gasoline evaporation, bitumen solved in gasoline hardens faster. This bitumen is called rapid clotting (RC) bitumen. The bitumen solved in kerosene is called
mild clotting (MC) bitumen and those solved in gas oil or fuel oil is called slow clotting (SC).
Bitumen mix with a volatile solvent is cutback bitumen. This enables its application considerable at low temperature. Base on quantity, character, and volatility, the cutback
bitumen divides into three types. They are,

 Rapid Curing (RC) cutback bitumen

 Medium Curing (MC) cutback bitumen
 Slow Curing (SC) cutback bitumen

4. Bitumen Emulsion- Emulsion bitumen is produced by mixing bitumen, water, and an emulsion making material. The emulsion making material is usually alkali salt of an
organic acid or ammonium salt which charges bitumen particles. So the bitumen particles expel each other because of their induction charges and float in the form of balls having
one hundredth to one thousandth millimeter diameter. The use of such kind of bitumen decreases environment pollution and as oil or flammable solvents aren’t used the danger
of flaming during transportation is decreased. A liquid product form by
mixing molten bitumen with hot water in the presence of an emulsifying agent. It consists of soap or resinous bodies. On application, the water evaporates the emulsion breaks up
and bitumen left in place. Its classifications are,

 Rapid setting (RS)

 Medium setting (MS) and
 Slow setting  (SS) The main
advantage of the emulsion is it employs at the wet weather and it rains. These materials use for maintenance and repair works.

5. Tar-A dark, thick flammable liquid consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons, resins, alcohols, and other compounds. This obtains by destructive  distillation of coal, oil,
petroleum wood and other organic materials. It is brown or black bituminous material with high viscosity. It uses in road-making and for coating. And has great variation in
viscosity. Materials that are bound together with bitumen are called bituminous materials. The use of bituminous materials were initially limited to road construction. Now the
applications have spread over the area of roof construction, for industrial purposes, carpet tiles, paints and as a special coating for waterproofing.

Types of Bitumen The first one is "asphalt"

and the second one is "macadam". Asphalts are bitumen mixture whose strength and stiffness is gained through the mortar property. While in the case of macadam, the strength
is dependent on the aggregates that are used in the mix (i.e. grading of the aggregates). For each case mentioned, the property of the bitumen change. It is found that the asphalt
properties are more governed by the bitumen properties than in the case of macadam.

Structure of Bitumen The hydrocarbons and its

derivatives formed in a complex colloidal system will compose to form the bitumen structure. Bitumen is a colloidal system that dissolves in trichloroethylene. This solvent is
used to determine the constituents that are present in the bitumen. The bitumen constituents can be subdivided as follows:

 Asphaltenes: These are found to be insoluble in light aliphatic hydrocarbon solvents

 Maltenes: These are soluble in n-heptane The
colloidal system of bitumen is a system with solid particles of Asphaltenes, that together form a cluster of molecules or these can be micelles; a continuum of Maltenes.
Based on the micelles dispersion, the bitumen can either exist in the form of a sol or in the form of a gel. Sol is formed when there is complete dispersal. The gel is
 formed when the micelles undergo flocculation to become flakes. The bitumen take a gel character, when it has a higher quantity of saturated oil of molecular weight
less. That bitumen with aromatic oils show sol character. This is one with more Asphaltenes.

Influence of Bitumen Constituents in the Material Properties

 The individual fractions that form a bitumen surely have some contribution towards the properties of the bitumen material. The
Asphaltenes is the fraction that shapes body for the material.
 The resin in the bitumen contributes to adhesiveness and ductility of the material.
 The viscosity and the rheology of the material are taken care by the oils present in the bitumen material.
 The stiffness of the material is governed by the sulfur that is present in significant amounts mainly in high molecular weighed fractions.
 The presence of a certain complex of oxygen will affect the acidity of the bitumen. The acidity of the bitumen is a factor whose determination will help in knowing the
adhering capability of the bitumen with the aggregate particles.
 Bitumen types

 Bitumen types
 Bitumen has a number of applications but its use for construction and maintenance of roads either directly or through asphalt accounts for nearly 90% of all demand . Key
bitumen types for road applications including paving grades, cutback bitumen, and bitumen emulsions. Hard, oxidized, and blown grades and mastic asphalt are used for
paints, sealants, adhesives, enamels, waterproofing, electrical products, flooring materials, back carpet tiles, land and marine pipe coatings and numerous other non-road
applications. Polymer-modified bitumen (PMB) is a recent innovation that is finding growing application in both paving and non-road applications . Although there are
numerous non-road applications for bitumen, they consume small volumes and road paving is the primary application. As a result, infrastructure cuts have significantly
impacted global bitumen demand.
 There are different types of bitumen available with different properties, specifications and uses based on requirements of consuming industry.
 The specification of bitumen also shows variation with the safety, solubility, physical properties, and the durability.
 To understand the performance of the bitumen when it is on service, the design of physical properties of the material is highly essential. The standard testing methods are
carried out to grade bitumen.
 The bitumen types regarding its generation source bitumen can be classified into three categories: natural, petroleum asphalts, coal tar pitches:
 1– Natural bitumen or native asphalts are a class of bitumen which have been naturally produced due to climate conditions in the course of time, and are used without the
need to be processed in distillation ways; they are very varied regarding their composition and properties.
2– Coal tar Pitches are hard black substances which are formed as the result of coal tar distillation. Their new broken surface is shiny and when they are heated they,
along with a fast decrease in viscosity, melt, and their melting point depends on the production process.
3– Petroleum Asphalts are the bitumen which is derived from petroleum. These are solid and semi-solid bitumen which is directly produced through distillation from
petroleum or by additional operations such as air blowing. Compared with the other types, they are more commonly used and have more applications.

 Bitumen types regarding their applications, bitumen can be divided into two groups: road construction or thin bitumen, and building bitumen and (roof insulator) or hard
bitumen. About 90% of the produced bitumen is used in road construction activities and 10 % of it is used for insulation applications. In Iran, the main part of bitumen is
used in the road construction activities and by the municipalities for coating the streets. Road construction bitumen is usually classified according to its penetration. The
penetration rate of bitumen material represents its strength and hardness which is defined as the number of penetration unit (one tenth millimeter) of one vertical standard
needle in one bitumen sample, in the certain time and weight on the needle and temperature. The penetration rate of bitumen is usually measured 25-degree centigrade
with 100-gram weight and in 5 seconds. Road construction bitumen made in Iran are “60 to 70” and ’85 to 100”. The numbers represent the range of bitumen penetration
rate. Bitumen is hydrocarbon substance which is black to dark brown and quite solvable in carbon-sulfur. It is solid in normal environment temperature but in increased
temperature, it first becomes a paste and then liquid. It has two important properties, impenetrable against water and adhesiveness which makes it an important material
for the application.
  Bitumen is usually acquired from petroleum distillation. Such kind of bitumen is called petroleum asphalt or distillery bitumen. Petroleum bitumen is the product of two
stages of petroleum distillation in a distillation tower. In the first stage of distillation, light materials such as gasoline and propane are separated from the raw oil. This
process is done in the pressure close to atmospheric pressure. In second stage heavy compounds such as diesel oil and kerosene are extracted. This process is done at a
pressure close to vacuum pressure. Finally, a mixture of solid bits called asphaltene remains which are floated in a grease-like fluid called Malton.
 Some kinds of bitumen are acquired from nature by gradual changing of petroleum and the evaporation of its evaporating materials by passing many years, such kind of
bitumen is called natural bitumen, and it is more lasting than petroleum asphalts. Such bitumen may be found in nature in pure form (lake bitumen) or extracted from
mines (mineral bitumen).

37.1.1 Applications

Bituminous materials are used for

 road construction,
 roofing,
 waterproofing, and other applications.
 For the main application, which is road construction, the major concerns, as with concrete, are cost and durability.

Definitions Binder. A
material used to hold solid particles together, for example, bitumen or tar. Bitumen, asphalt. A
heavy fraction from oil distillation. In North America, this material is commonly known as “asphalt cement,” or “asphalt.” Elsewhere, “asphalt” is the term used for a mixture of
small stones, sand, filler, and bitumen, which is used as a road paving or roofing material. In view of this problem, the term “asphalt” is not used in this chapter.
Tar. A viscous liquid obtained from distillation of coal or wood. It can be used as an alternative to bitumen, in many applications. Mastic asphalt. An adhering blend of bitumen
and fine filler that is placed with trowelling. Asphalt mixture. A mixture of binder and fine and coarse aggregate.

37.1.3 Safety
When they are heated, binders will give off light solvent vapours that can be quite easily ignited to cause explosions. For this reason, vapours should be extracted from
laboratories or, on site, an open flame may be used to burn them off as they form. The vapours are also carcinogenic, so good extraction from laboratories is essential. If the
binder itself catches fire, the flame will be spread by water, so a suitable fire extinguisher should be used.

37.1.4 Production Bitumen

is made from crude oil by distillation. The crude oil is vaporised and then condensed in a distillation tower, with the lightest components (those with the lowest boiling points)
condensing nearest the top. The main components are: By mixing base bitumen with lighter oil, different grade bitumens are produced. If increased demand for lighter oils means
that more bitumen is being produced that is required, it can be “cracked” to break up the large molecules, and produce more light oils. This increases its value.
Tar is produced when gas is produced from coal. The coal is heated to high temperatures in the absence of air, giving off gas and crude coal tar, and leaving behind coke that is
used in blastfurnaces. Crude tar may be distilled in the same way as crude oil, to produce different fractions.

9.4 Bituminous binders and emulsions Bituminous materials have been

in known use for thousands of years, when bitumen mastic was used in Mesopotamia as water proofing for reservoirs (Read and White oak, 2003). Many years before crude oil
exploration and its industrial processing began, man had recognised the numerous advantages of bitumen application and had started the production of bituminous materials
found in natural deposits. It is widely believed that the term bitumen originated in Sanskrit, where
the word ‘jatu’ meaning pitch and ‘jatu-kirt’ meaning pitch creating referred to the pitch produced by some resinous trees. The Latin equivalent is claimed by some to be
originally ‘gwitu-men’ (pertaining to pitch) and by others, pixtu-men (bubbling pitch), which was subsequently shortened to bitumen then passing via French to English.

Defines Bitumen As: ‘A viscous

liquid, or solid, consisting essentially of hydrocarbons and their derivatives, which is soluble in trichloroethylene and is substantially nonvolatile and softens gradually when
heated. It is black or brown in colour and possesses water proofing and adhesive properties. It is obtained by refinery processes from petroleum, and is also found as a natural
deposit or as a component of naturally occurring asphalt, in which it is associated with mineral matter’. Bitumen is a product of oil refining and is a long
chain complex hydrocarbon. It typically contains 82–88% carbon and 8–11% hydrogen, the rest being sulphur, oxygen and nitrogen. There are four fractional components
making up the chemical composition of bitumen.

1 Asphaltenes – these are insoluble in n-heptane, black or brown amorphous solids, fairly high molecular weight (1000–100,000), polar and their particle size is 5–30  nm.
Asphaltenes constitute 5–25% of the bitumen.
2 Resins – these are soluble and play a key role in bitumen structure, acting as dispersing agents (peptisers) for asphaltenes. They are solid or semi-solid, polar, and have a
particle size of 1–5 nm and their molecular weight is 500–50,000.
3 Aromatics – these constitute 40-65% of the total bitumen; they are a dark brown viscous liquid with high dissolving ability. Aromatics have the lowest molecular weight of
300–2000.
4. Saturates – these are white in colour and constitute 5–20% of bitumen. They are usually found in the waxy bitumen. One of
the drawbacks of bitumen is that it will only adhere to aggregate particles if that aggregate is heated sufficiently to drive off all moisture, and this is a costly and energy-intensive
procedure. In order to overcome the problem and make the bitumen workable at ambient temperatures bituminous emulsions can provide a suitable solution. A bituminous
emulsion is a dispersion of bitumen in water plus emulsifying agents. Hot bitumen will break into very small droplets, typically 1–20 m in size, by using a colloid mill. At the
same time the emulsifying agent and water will be added to the hot bitumen (see Fig. 9.13). The emulsifier agent is a chemical with charge at one end, either positive or negative,
and a long polymer tail with a strong affinity to bitumen, as illustrated by Fig. 9.14. When these emulsifier ions attach themselves to the bitumen droplets they are converted into
charged particles. These charges are sufficient to prevent the droplets from coalescing, since bitumen and water have very similar specific gravities (1.00 and 1.03, respectively)
and so the bitumen droplets float in the water.