Bitumen abundance

Orimulsion is a relatively new fuel that is available for the gasification process. Orimulsion is an emulsified fuel, a mixture of natural bitumen (referred to as Orinoco-oil), water (about 30%), and a small quantity of surface active agents. Abundant Orinoco-oil resei ves he under the ground in the northern part of Venezuela. 

As with most nonpolar hydrocarbon-intense polymers, bitumens exhibit good resistance to attack by inorganic salts and weak acids. They are dark, generally brown to black, and their color is difficult to mask with pigments. They are thermoplastic materials with a narrow service temperature range unless modified with fibrous fillers and/or synthetic resins. They are abundant materials that are relatively inexpensive, thus their use in many bulk applications. 

In further studies it was also found that the aromatic fraction of these bitumens as obtained from silica gel chromatography also contained naphthenic sulfides (5) with molecular weight and ring number distribution similar to those of the sulfoxides. Relative abundances versus carbon number as obtained from the field ionization mass spectrum for each ring number series are shown in Figure 4. It is clear from these and... 

Thiophene hopanoids. Two C35 thiophene hopanoids are present in the A3 fraction of the bitumens. One of these isomers (XXVI, Figure 19) has been previously identified by Valisolalao et al (7) in black shales. The other isomer (XXVII, Figure 19) has been tentatively identified by Sinninghe Damste et al (6). Because of the lack of a suitable standard for this fraction it was impossible to quantify these compounds as precisely as the previously discussed alkylthiophenes. However, the relative abundance of these hopanoid thiophenes (see experimental section) varies considerably throughout the sequence (Figure 19a). 

Units consisting of linear carbon skeletons occur less abundantly in the resins of the Northern Apennines Marl bitumen than in those of the Jurf ed Darawish-156 bitumen. Mass chromatograms of m/z 87 and 101 (Figure 11)... 

Thus, energy policy makers face an exceptionally severe challenge. They must find politically acceptable ways to produce and market the remaining oil and gas resources in quantities and at prices which do not impair the capabilities of the industrialized world to manage the transition to inexhaustible energy forms. They must determine the path of the transition Is it to rely primarily on the still abundant coal, bitumen and marginal hydrocarbon resources in conjunction with synthetic fuels and a moderate increase in electrification Or, is it to follow a high electrification scenario based on coal and/or nuclear fission ... 

Because of the abundance of bitumen seepages in the Middle East, no people made such extensive use of it as did those of Southeast Asia. An early use may well have been as a hafting cement— first to affix stone weapon points to wooden shafts and later to secure tool heads onto wooden handles. Traces of bitumen have been found indeed on a sickle tooth unearthed at the eighth-millennium village of Jarmo (I) and on stone tools from the fifth-millennium town of Tell Hassuna (2), both in Northern Iraq. 

Like to Goslarian Mica. Concerning all these, consult Pliny, Avicenna, and others. There is great affinity between Sulphur and Bitumen. In the Eolian Isles it is collected, and very readily kindles the fire. It is found in great abundance, and is exported to Italy, and thence to us. Concerning its sublimation, solution, and melting, consult the chemists, for these exceed my purpose. 

Marruffo, R, Chirinos, M.L., Sarmiento, W.B.O., Bitumenes, S.A., Orinoco, and Her-nandez-Carstens, E., Orimulsion A Clean and Abundant Energy Source, paper presented at the 17th Congress of the World Energy Council, Houston, TX, September 14, 1998, available at www.worldenergy.org. 

Desmethylsteranes with 27-29 carbon atoms are the most abundant steranes and occur in virtually all bitumens and oils that are not overmature. Biological precursors of cholestane (66a) (C27) are common in animals and red algae (Rhodophyceae), while precursors of ergostane (C28) (66b) are frequently found in yeast and fungi, diatoms (Bacillariophyceae), and several other classes of microalgae (Volkman, 2003). 

---