Bitumen boiling range

Simulated Distillation of Bitumen Sample. The boiling-range distribution of the recovered bitumen was determined by simulated distillation gas-liquid chromatography using the procedure of Poulson et al. (15). Boiling points are determined by calibration with a mixture of n-paraffins ranging from Cn to C42. The upper limit for boiling point determination in this analysis is about 540°C (1000°F). 

In all of these attempts at a definition or classification of petroleum, it must be remembered that petroleum exhibits wide variations in composition and properties, and these variations not only occur in petroleum from different fields but may also be manifested in petroleum taken from different production depths in the same well. The mixture of hydrocarbons is highly complex. Paraffinic, naphthenic, and aromatic structures can occur in the same molecule, and the complexity increases with boiling range of the petroleum fraction. In addition, petroleum varies in physical appearance from a light-colored liquid to the more viscous heavy oil. The near-solid or solid bitumen that occurs in tar sand deposits is different from petroleum and heavy oil, as evidenced by the respective methods of recovery (Speight, 1999,2000). 

When the viscosity of the bitumen is reduced by the addition of a flux oil (a relatively involatile oil), the bitumen is called fluxed bitumen. Flux oils can be derived from petrochemical, carbochemical or petroleum origin materials, or a mixture of these materials. In this case, the product is called petroleum fluxed bitumen or mineral fluxed bitumen. Typical flux oil is the gas oil of various boiling ranges. 

Timber-preservation creosotes are mainly blends of wash oil, strained anthracene oil, and heavy oil having minor amounts of oils boiling in the 200—250°C range. Coal-tar creosote is also a feedstock for carbon black manufacture (see Carbon, carbon black). Almost any blend of tar oils is suitable for this purpose, but the heavier oils are preferred. Other smaller markets for creosote were for fluxing coal tar, pitch, and bitumen in the manufacture of road binders and for the production of horticultural winter wash oils and disinfectant emulsions. 

Petroleum fractions and aromatic hydrocarbons with a boiling point range between ca. 130 and 200°C are suitable solvents for bitumen solutions. Benzines (mineral spirit) are preferred on account of their less obtrusive smell and the fact that they are more environmentally friendly. On account of their toxic properties, chlorinated hydrocarbons are no longer used. 

The peak maximum temperatures of the blown bitumens are not so uniform and therefore the calculation of means is not worth while. Some of the blown bitumens, their dispersion medium and their petroleum resins demonstrate peak maxima both in the distillation and in the pyrolysis range because of the content of low boiling flux oils. The activation energies computed for the distillation range are equal to the enthalpies of vaporization, as shown by experiments on model substances. 

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