Separating Asphalt into Its Chemical Constituents

Abstract

A knowledge of the composition of asphalt on the basis of molecular size and chemical type, comparable to the analysis of the overhead cuts of petroleum, was desired. The method developed involved molecular distillation to yield a size separation; silica gel chromatography to separate saturates, aromatics, and resins; solvent dewaxing of the saturates to determine wax content; urea-complex formation to separate long-chain paraffins; alumina chromatography to separate monocyclic aromatics; peroxide oxidation followed by chromatography to

Influence of Composition of Paving Asphalt on Viscosity, Viscosity-Temperature Susceptibility, and Durability.

“…The experimental details of these separation procedures have been published (7), and only a brief description is given here. The molecular distillations are carried out in 14or 5-inch cyclic stills manufactured by Distillation Products, Inc., which permit distillation of high molecular weight material with minimum thermal hazard.…”

“…Therefore, the authors measured viscosity in fundamental units over the temperature range from 32°to 285°F. At temperatures up to 140°F ., all measurements were made with the sliding plate microviscometer (5) manufactured by Flallikainen Instruments, Berkeley, Calif. At high temperatures, viscosities were determined in a Lantz-Zeitfuchs reverse flow capillary viscometer (7).…”

Characterization of Thermal Diffusion Fractions of Petrolenes from a Mid-Continent Asphalt.

“…M ethods previously used for the fractionation of asphalts have utilized solvents (4,19,20), adsorption (10), and chemical reaction (17), as well as various combinations of these (5,15). Most of the work has been directed toward intercomparison of a variety of asphalts, and ultimately toward correlation of the amounts of the fractions with service characteristics.…”

Causes of Floccules Formation in Hydro-Treated Lubricating Base Oil

“…Del Carmen Garcia (2000) reported that the abundance of large n-paraffins (n C24+) in paraffinic crude oils increased their tendency to the wax crystallization, which could be demonstrated by a linear correlation between the concentration of this hydrocarbon family and the crude oil cloud point. The carbon number of paraffinic molecules present in deposits was known to be higher than 15 atoms and to reach values of more than 80 carbon atoms, as reported by several authors (O'Donell, 1951;Woo et al, 1984). However, as is shown in Figure 2, the greatest atomic number of the carbon atoms of the floccules separated from KH150BS was 47.…”