Bitumen Upgrading by Changing its Chemical Composition

Physical properties of bitumen normally arise from its chemical composition. Nature of crude as well as separation techniques in petroleum refining process, determine the composition and quality of bitumen. In our research we tried to improve the quality and performance characteristics of bitumen by changing its chemical structure without using additives. Bitumen can be separated into four fractions (saturates, naphthene aromatics, polar aromatics, and asphaltenes) where each fraction plays a specific role in some physical properties of bitumen. In this research, changing the bitumen composition was done by using solvent deasphalting and blending processes in laboratory and pilot plant scales, which resulted in improving some inherent defects of Iranian bitumens such as temperature susceptibility, low temperature properties, viscosity,etc.

Keywords:

Bitumen , Upgrading , Deasphalting , and Quality Improvement