Bitumen is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of Petroleum Crude. Bitumen is consumed from 4000 years B.C. Its previous Latin name was PIXTU-MEN and today Bitumen and Asphalt are commonly used names. It is mainly used in pavements of roads and insulation. The first street in the World was covered with Asphalt in Washington in 1876.

Air Blowing Bitumen:

Bitumens are modified by blowing air. It is an oxidation process that involves blowing air into the bitumen, either in batches or continuously, with a short residue at 240 ° C to 320 ° C.

The process of blowing air is as follows:

After preheating, the short residue enters the blower column just below the normal liquid level. The air is blown through bitumen by an air distributor at the bottom of the column. Air is not only reactive but also serves to stir and mix bitumen, thus increasing the level and speed of the reaction. As air rises through the material, oxygen is consumed by the bitumen. Steam and water are sprayed in the steam room above the surface of the bitumen, the former to suppress the foam and expand the oxygen content of the waste gases and the latter to cool the vapors to prevent it from burning. The “blown” product flows from the bottom of the blower column through an external traction line to a wave drum. In this way, the minimum product level in the blower column is controlled.

Before pumping the product for storage, the blown product is passed through heat exchangers to reach the desired “drop” temperature and provide a suitable means for preheating the short residue. Infiltration and softening of blown bitumen are affected:

The viscosity of raw materials

The temperature in the blower column

 Origin of crude oil used to produce raw materials

Air to feed ratio

The blowing process shortens the wastewater, resulting in oxidation and polycondensation, increasing the overall molecular size of the asphaltene in the feed, and excess asphaltene is formed from the malting stage. The reaction is exothermic. Therefore, close temperature control of this process is necessary, which is achieved by adjusting the ratio of air to short in the blower column.

To produce bitumen with a suitable degree of penetration for road construction, bitumens produced from some raw materials require a limited amount of air blowing. This process is called half-blowing or air correction. With rational use, half-blowing can be used to reduce the bitumen temperature sensitivity, i.e. to increase its penetration index.

Bitumen Emulsion:

Bitumen emulsions are basically an O/W – Oil on Water solution – A dispersion of bitumen particles on water phase, stabilized with the addition of surfactants – Surface active agents – or most commonly known as emulsifiers. They are primarily used for tack coats for use in between hot mix asphalt layers and prime coats for thin hot mix surfacing layers or a chip seal pavements, other cold mixed asphalt and maintenance binder.

Bitumen emulsions are divided into three categories:

• Anionic with negatively charged globules
• Cationic with positively charged globules
• Non-ionic with neutral globules

Based on the time of setting after spraying, Bitumen emulsions classification divided as Quick Set (QS), Rapid set (RS), Medium set (MS) and Slow set (SS)

Cut Back Bitumen:

Cutback bitumen is a petroleum product produced by diluting bitumen in petroleum hydrocarbon (Kerosene). The aim is to decrease the viscosity and to increase the penetration of bitumen on asphalt surface. In comparison with bitumen, cutback bitumen is sprayed on different layers of roads in a notably lower temperature. Once the solvent is evaporated, the remaining bitumen equals with penetration bitumen in terms of hardness.

Cutback bitumen is categorized in 3 groups, according to their curing time:

Rapid Curing (RC)

Medium Curing (MC)

Slow Curing (RC)

We can supply bitumen with the best quality and different packing. Available packing are:

• Bulk
• New steel drum : 150kg, 180kg and 220kg
• Jumbo bag : 1000kg, 500kg and 300kg