Bitumen

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AKA Asphaltum, Beach Tar

Uses

Other

  • Source of aromatics
  • Source of hydrocarbons

Natural Occurrence

Bitumen is a naturally occurring substance contained within a mineral or sands deposit. It is normally a black solid or hardened resin, although in the presence of heat it will melt to a liquid.

Hazards

Composition

Bitumen is almost solid at room temperature and can be fractionated into 4 components, each its own crude mixture, divided approximately as follows:

   17% saturated hydrocarbons (soluble in heptane)
   40% aromatics (soluble in toluene or toluene/methanol)
   26% resins (polymers soluble in trichloroethylene)
   17% asphaltenes. (large polyaromatics not soluble in heptane)

Note that the composition of bitumen found in literature can vary greatly due to the difficulty of getting an accurate measurement.

Fractionation

Chemical

Distillation

See Also

References