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basics
Index
03 Introduction and Historical
Perspective
04 Bitumen Sources and Types
07 Applications
12 Manufacturing Process
14 Test Procedures
18 Optimising Bitumen
Performance
19 Glossary
26 BP Bitumen Australia
03
basics
04
applying heat
dissolving it in petroleum solvents
paraffin based
bitumen based
Properties
Sources of Bitumen
05
40 micrometres
Limit of visibility
to the naked eye
100 micrometres
Grain of salt
Types of Bitumen
There are six major classifications of petroleum bitumen
produced by the refining and manufacturing process:
Paving grade bitumen (or asphalt cement in the USA) is
the most widely used bitumen and is refined and blended
to meet road engineering and industrial specifications that
take into account different climatic conditions. Paving grade
bitumen may also be considered as the parent bitumen from
which the other forms are produced.
Cutback bitumens consist of bitumen that has been diluted
in solvent (cutter or flux) to make it more fluid for application.
The fluidity of cutback bitumens (or cutbacks as they are
known) depends on the degree of hardness of the bitumen
and the proportion of diluent. Cutbacks are classified
according to the time it takes for them to cure, or become
solid due to the evaporation of the diluent. Classifications are
rapid curing (RC), medium curing (MC) or slow curing (SC).
70 micrometres
Diameter of human hair
25 micrometres
White blood cells
8 micrometres
Red blood cells
2 micrometres
Bacteria
basics
Applications
06
Fine
Coarse
Figure 3:
Microscopic
representation of
emulsion structures.
Bitumen Handling
Anionic
Cationic
ARS
CRS
Rapid setting
AMS
CMS
Medium setting
ASS
CSS
Slow setting
07
The base course is a mixture of aggregates and bitumen
used as a structural layer. It adds to the strength of the road
and is an even surface foundation for the top layer.
The wearing course is the top layer normally consisting of a
more finely textured mixture of aggregates and bitumen. Its
role is to act as a smooth running surface for traffic. It must
also be as weather-proof as possible and resist the continual
action of the abrasive forces imposed by the vehicles as
they pass along it. The wearing course should also disperse
surface water effectively to minimise the danger of skidding.
Where appropriate, a tack coat of bitumen may be applied
between courses to ensure adhesion of the layers.
The layers of asphalt in a road pavement can vary widely in
maximum stone size used and thickness laid, from as low
as 15mm thickness using 5mm maximum stone size up to
250mm layers using up to 40mm maximum stone size.
C50
C170
C320
Cutback grades
C600
Emulsions Modified
bitumens
Low
High
viscosity viscosity
Cutback
manufacture
Emulsion
manufacture
Hotmix
asphalt
Sprayed seals
Tack coat
basics
08
09
Hot Mix
The mixing of aggregates and bitumen to produce asphalt
may take place at a purpose-built plant located away from
the road construction site, or it may be done at the site itself.
Controlled amounts of various size aggregates, which have
been carefully blended and graded to meet the required
specification, are dried and heated before being mixed with
a measured quantity of hot bitumen. All this takes place
in a purpose-built plant. The hot mixture, or hot mix, at a
temperature of up to 160C, is carried to the construction
site and laid while still hot.
The above describes, in simple terms, a process in which
skill and experience are combined with computerised control
systems to carry out a complex series of operations. Various
sizes of aggregate dry out, gain and retain heat at different
rates. Their temperature must be controlled so that the
bitumen does not cool when it is mixed with the aggregates.
The supply of aggregates is continuously weighed by scales
linked to the pump metering the bitumen to ensure that
a constant ratio of aggregate to bitumen is maintained.
Direction of load
Wearing course
Tack coat
Base course
Tack coat
Sub-base
Formation level
Subgrade
(natural soil)
basics
10
11
Road Recycling
Dense-graded
Asphalt
Hot Rolled
Asphalt
Stone Mastic
Asphalt
Open-graded
Asphalt
Bitumen
content %
4-7%
6-9%
8-12%
5-7%
Air voids
content %
3-5%
3-5%
3-5%
18-20%
Industrial Usage
The use of bitumen in industrial applications accounts
for less than 20% of world bitumen consumption. It
is nevertheless important to those manufacturers and
engineers who rely on its particular properties as an
economical binder and protector. In many parts of the world
it is used extensively to waterproof the roofs of houses,
often in the form of shingles, which are strips of felt first
impregnated with bitumen and then covered on both sides
with harder bitumen and a coating of mineral granules. A
similar construction technique involves sheets of bitumensaturated felt laid onto a flat roof with layers of bitumen
below, between and above them. By contrast, bitumen is
also used in damp-proofing and floor tiles.
Other materials, particularly felts and papers, are
impregnated with bitumen to improve their performance as
insulators. Packaging papers, printing inks, linoleum, sound
deadening felts hidden inside car bodies and undersealing
compounds beneath them, electrical insulating compounds
and battery boxes are some of the hundreds of industrial and
domestic products likely to contain industrial grade bitumen.
basics
12
Manufacturing Process
Refinery Processes
In an oil refinery, the crude oil being processed is separated
into different cuts on the basis of their boiling range. In
atmospheric distillation, which is the first stage of this
continuous process, the crude oil is heated to 300C-350C
and the more volatile components, e.g. petrol and kerosene,
are distilled off. This leaves a residue called atmospheric
residue, which is then further distilled under vacuum.
The actual processing temperature of the residue is 350C390C, but because of the applied vacuum, the further
effective distillation cut point is 500C-560C. This vacuum
distillation process yields further volatile products known as
vacuum distillates and leaves a non-volatile residue of high
viscosity, which is called vacuum residue.
Depending on the crude origin, the vacuum residue may
be used directly as bitumen without further processing. For
some crude oils though, or to meet particular specifications,
additional processing may be required, such as air blowing
of the residue. The air blowing process demands careful
selection and control of process temperature, air rate and
residence time to ensure consistent product. Sometimes
bitumens are produced by blending vacuum residue with
asphaltenes derived from the manufacture of lubricating oils.
For example, propane-precipitated asphalt (PPA) is commonly
used in the manufacture of bitumens when lubricating oils
are produced at the same refinery.
The selection of crude is an important aspect of bitumen
manufacture, requiring expertise and experience to yield
a satisfactory product not all crude can be used to make
bitumen. Few of the nearly 1500 available crude petroleum
oils are suitable for the manufacture of good quality bitumen.
Within the Australian context, a very small number of crude
oils are able to be used to manufacture bitumen compliant
with the current Australian Standard.
Cutback bitumens are produced by diluting the paving grade
bitumen with a cutter or flux. Bitumen emulsions are made
in a colloid mill by dispersing paving grade bitumen in water
with the aid of an emulsifying agent.
For industrial bitumens, in order to produce a material
that will soften at a higher temperature than paving grade
bitumen of equivalent penetration, severe air blowing is
required. The product is therefore also known as air-blown
13
or oxidised bitumen. Typically the blower feedstock has a
lower initial boiling point than for paving grade bitumens. It
is this, combined with severe blowing, that gives industrial
bitumens their special physical properties.
The production of high quality bitumen relies on a combination
of skills, experience and modern refinery technology. These
are used extensively to ensure the suitability of feedstocks
and to monitor and control all stages of the process.
Crude Oil
300 350C
Atmospheric
Distillation
Storage
Bitumen is stored at refineries and large depots in large
permanent tanks made of mild-steel plate, with capacities of
between 100 and 10,000 tonnes. Steam or hot oil is pumped
through heating coils in the heavily insulated tanks so that
the bitumen remains fluid. Smaller depots and big users
store bitumen in small permanent or semi-mobile tanks of up
to 60 tonnes capacity, typically heated by electricity or flame
heater tubes.
Distribution
As bitumen cools, it gradually becomes unworkable.
Therefore the delivery of paving grade bitumen not only calls
for the supply of bitumen to be provided at the right quality
and quantity at the right time, but the product must also be
kept between 150C-190C throughout the supply chain.
When it is loaded into a road tanker, the temperature can
drop by about 7C-10C and continue to fall by a further one
or two degrees per hour while in transit.
Road tankers with capacities of between 10 and 40 tonnes
are normally used to take most of the bitumen from the
refineries. They have insulated single-compartment tanks,
usually with some kind of heating such as heating tubes.
To transport bitumen to intermediary depots with reheating
facilities, insulated rail cars are sometimes used. Their
capacity ranges from 10 tonnes to 50 tonnes and they are
also fitted with electric heaters or direct oil-fired flame tube
heaters. When bitumen is moved by sea, it can be shipped
in a variety of vessels from 300 tonne barges to ocean-going
tankers of up to 30,000 tonnes capacity. The temperature of
the hot-loaded bitumen is maintained by high pressure steam
or hot oil passing through coils in the bitumen tanks.
Main
Refinery
Processing
Industrial
Bitumen
Wax Distillate
Severe Air
Blowing
350 390C
Water and
Emulsification
Agent
Vacuum
Distillation
Vacuum
Residue
Bitumen
Emulsion
Emulsification
220 260C
Polymer Bitumen
Emulsion
Polymer
Air
Blowing
Polymer
Modified
Binder
Atmospheric Distillation
Mixing
Vacuum Distillation
Air Blowing
Cutback
Bitumen
Emulsification
Mixing
Blending
Cutter Oil
Flux Oil
Blending
Fluxed
Bitumen
Paving Grade
Bitumen
basics
14
Test Procedures
15
Characteristics
SA
Standards Australia
IP
LCPC
Test Development
Specifying Authorities
Various organisations representing bitumen manufacturers
and users have laid down standard test procedures. Major
test methods specifiers are:
Time = 0 seconds
After test
Dial reading
Time = 5 seconds
100g
Vacuum viscometer
Gravity viscometer
To vacuum
Vent to atmosphere
Upper
filling mark
Sample
Water bath
heated to 60C
Water bath
heated
to 135C
Timing marks
Timing marks
Lower
filling mark
Sample
Temperature is noted
when flash occurs
Water bath
heated
to 25C
Sample
Needle set just touching surface
Heat source
basics
16
17
Ductility: gives an indication of the extent to which a sample
of the material can be stretched before breaking. A standard
briquette of bitumen, placed in a mould in a water bath heated
to 15C, is pulled apart, usually at a speed of 5 cm per minute.
The length of the thread of bitumen at the moment when it
breaks, expressed in centimetres, is the ductility of the sample.
Bitumen Emulsions
Thermometer
Temperature is
noted at end of test
Balls
Ring
When ball
has dropped
a previously set
specified distance
test has ended
Sample
Water
Heat source
Mark indicates start of test
Figure 13: The Softening Point test (Ring and Ball Test)
measures the temperature at which bitumen has a particular
viscosity.
Cutback Bitumens
Each failure is
indicated here
Thermometer
Water coolant supply
Draught shield
Sample
heated to 360C
Wire gauze
Chimney
Heat source
Water
coolant
supply
Solvent
Water
content
collected
here
Sample with
solvent mix
Heat source
basics
18
Glossary
Background
General Advice
Minimise the time during which hot bitumen is exposed
to air. Bitumen hardens and loses some of its adhesive
property when it is exposed to a combination of air and
excessive heat. Careless mixing of bitumen and aggregate
is an example of a practice that exposes bitumen to the air
and heat for longer than the minimum time required to coat
the aggregate. It is therefore likely to reduce the bitumens
performance as an adhesive.
Keep bitumen dry and away from contamination by water at
all times. When hot bitumen comes into contact with water it
will foam. In extreme cases it will violently boil over from storage
vessels due to the presence of small quantities of water.
Keep bitumen within the range of temperatures
recommended for the type and grade. Bitumen solidifies
as it cools and becomes unworkable and the viscosity may
if the mixture looks stiff and dull rather than black and
shiny there may be too little bitumen in the mixture, or
overheating has excessively oxidised the binder
19
asphalt, dense-graded (DGA) An asphalt comprised of
coarse and fine aggregates, filler and a bituminous binder,
which is placed hot and then compacted to a dense state
as a road pavement layer. The aggregate gradation of dense
graded asphalt is considered to be continuous and the
intimate interlocking of the aggregate particles is a major
factor in the strength of the compacted asphalt. Also known
as asphaltic concrete.
asphalt, hot rolled (HRA) An asphalt material used as a
dense wearing course, basecourse or roadbase material and
which consists of a mixture of gap-graded coarse aggregate,
fine aggregates, filler and bituminous binder. Common in the
UK.
asphalt, lake A highly viscous natural bitumen found in
well-defined surface deposits e.g. Trinidad Lake Asphalt.
asphalt, open-graded (OGA) An asphalt comprised
of a large proportion of a single size aggregate, filler and
bituminous binder, which has an interconnecting voids
content of about 20% to 25%. Also known as porous asphalt
and drainage asphalt.
asphalt, stone mastic (SMA) An asphalt with a high
coarse aggregate content and a high volume of both filler and
bituminous binder, the strength of which is predominantly
provided by stone-on-stone contact of the coarse aggregate
particles. Also known as Splitt Mastic Asphalt.
asphaltenes High molecular weight compounds in bitumen
which are soluble in carbon disulphide, but insoluble in
aromatic-free low-boiling petroleum solvents, such as n-heptane.
asphaltic cement North American term for bitumen.
asphaltic concrete See asphalt, dense-graded (DGA).
atmospheric residue (atres) The residue obtained in the
atmospheric distillation of crude petroleum oil.
Austroads The association of Australian and New Zealand
road transport and traffic authorities.
AustStab Australian Stabilisation Industry Association
base course One or more layers of material immediately
below the wearing course of a pavement. Also known as
base or binder course.
basics
20
21
binder A material that is used to hold aggregate particles
together or to a substrate, such as bitumen in asphalt and
sprayed seals, or cement in concrete.
bitumen A viscous liquid or solid, consisting essentially
of hydrocarbons and their derivatives, which is substantially
soluble in organic solvents, such as toluene and carbon
disulphide, and is substantially non-volatile and softens
gradually when heated. It is black or brown in colour and
possesses waterproofing and adhesive properties. It is either
obtained by refinery processes from petroleum or is found
as a natural deposit or as a component of naturally occurring
asphalt, in which it is associated with mineral matter. Also
known as asphalt in North America.
bitumen emulsion A liquid mixture in which bitumen
is suspended as small droplets in water by means of
emulsifying and stabilising agents.
bitumen, blown Bitumen through which air has been
passed (blown) at high temperature for the purpose of
altering its viscosity characteristics.
bitumen, cutback See cutback bitumen
bitumen, fluxed A bitumen to which a flux oil has been
added to provide a long-term reduction in its viscosity.
bitumen, industrial grade See bitumen, oxidised.
bitumen, oxidised Bitumen, to which other refinery
products such as paraffinic oils may have been added, that
has been subjected to a prolonged blowing process to
substantially change its viscosity characteristics. Also known
as industrial grade bitumen.
bitumen, paving grade Bitumen manufactured specifically
for use in road pavement applications.
bitumen, petroleum Bitumen obtained from crude
petroleum oil by a refinery processes.
bitumen, straight run Bitumen produced from crude
petroleum oil solely by a process of distillation (atmospheric
& vacuum). Also known as residual bitumen.
bituminous A material that resembles or contains bitumen.
bituminous slurry A mixture of bitumen emulsion (with
or without added polymer modifier), mineral aggregate,
filler, additives and water properly proportioned to form a
basics
22
23
emulsion, bitumen See bitumen emulsion
basics
24
25
single/single seal A sprayed seal constructed by applying
a single application of bituminous binder followed by a single
application of aggregate.
slurry seal A surface treatment consisting of a thin layer of
bituminous slurry, usually without added polymer.
slurry surfacing See bituminous slurry.
softening point The temperature at which a bituminous
binder softens under standard specified conditions. Usually
determined by the ring and ball softening point test,
which measures the temperature at which a disc of the
binder softens sufficiently to allow a standard steel ball,
initially placed on the surface, to fall through the disc for a
prescribed distance.
sprayed seal A thin layer of bituminous binder sprayed
onto a pavement surface followed by the application of
a layer of single-sized aggregate. Also known as surface
dressing (UK) and chip seal (NZ).
stabilisation The treatment of a road pavement or
subgrade material by the introduction of a bituminous binder
to improve its engineering strength.
basics
BP Bitumen Australia
BP Bitumen Offices
Head Office
BP Bitumen Australia
55 Toll Drive, Altona North, Victoria
PO Box 495, Altona North VIC 3025
Telephone: (03) 8368 8700
Facsimile: (03) 8368 8701
Tasmania
BP Bitumen Selfs Point
Selfs Point Road, Newtown, Tasmania
PO Box 282, Moonah TAS 7009
Telephone: (03) 6278 1310
Facsimile: (03) 6278 2205
Western Australia
BP Bitumen Kwinana
Mason Road, Kwinana, Western Australia
PO Box 2131, Rockingham WA 6167
Telephone: (08) 9419 9712
Facsimile: (08) 9419 9820
The information provided in this Guide is of a general nature and should only be used as a guide. Please contact BP Bitumen staff to ensure you have access to the most current information
and for advice relating to any particular circumstances. BP Australia Pty Ltd (BP) makes no warranty as to the completeness or accuracy of the information provided and, to the fullest extent
permitted by applicable law, BP and its subsidiaries are not liable for any costs, loss or damage incurred in connection with use of the information provided in this Guide. The material contained
in this Guide is protected by copyright. BP, Olexobit, Multibit, Aquabit and the Helios Design are registered trade marks of BP p.l.c. and licensed to BP Australia Pty Ltd for use in Australia.
BP Australia Pty Ltd ABN 53 004 085 616, Melbourne Central, 360 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne 3000, Australia. Printed October 2007. wam9774.
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