Bitumen Processing

Organic S/S (use of thermoplastics or polymers) is often more expensive than other S/S methods. The urea formaldehyde and bitumen processes are likely the least expensive of this type but are still usually more costly than the more common inorganic processes. The waste often requires more pretreatment, and processing can be more difficult because of the higher temperatures and specialized equipment involved (D150141, p. 7.89). 

Bitumen processes can be held either as batch or as continuous operations. In the fust case, the steps of drying and mixing the dried material in molten bitumen are involved, whereas in continuous operation, the spent material is introduced as slurry to equipment that continuously mixes the bitumen at the same time. Then, the bitumen mixture flows into a suitable storage container and is solidified upon cooling. Neilson and Colombo (1982) have presented the main features of the process for ion-exchange resin wastes. 

Bulmer, J.T. Starr, J. (Eds.), Syncrude Analytical Methods for Oil Sand and Bitumen Processing, Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority Edmonton, Alberta,... 

In this chapter, the committee briefly reviews some other applications of neutralization and hydrolysis elsewhere in the world to provide historical perspective for the technology being used in the United States to destroy recovered chemical weapons, as described in Chapter 1. Detailed descriptions and evaluations of the Russian two-stage neutralization/ bitumenization process and incineration processes follow that review. 

Finding 5-1. In the Russian context, the destruction efficiency for the Russian two-stage bitumen process is sufficiently high, the reactions involved are irreversible, and the toxicity of the bitumen-salt product from the Russian two-stage process is sufficiently low. 

Finding 5-2. The Russian two-stage neutralization/ bitumenization process generates a large amount of secondary wastes that in the United States would require being land-filled and monitored indefinitely. The lack of information on the long-term stability of these wastes and the leaching of toxic materials from them (see Secondary Waste Issues ) is a cause for concern. 

Recommendation 5-1. The U.S. Army should not expend any resources on further evaluation of the Russian two-stage neutralization/bitumenization process for application in the United States. 

FIGURE 15.13 Hydrocarbon content of gasoline fraction produced by bitumen processing. TCC, thermo-catalytic cracking RTC, radiation-thermal cracking. 

Syncrude Analytical Methods for Oil Sands and Bitumen Processing. Edmonton Syncrude Research, 1979, p 123. 

Products currently available in the market are Eco-Foam II, Accu-Shear Dual WMA System, Aquablack WMA, Double Barrel Green, Green Machine, Half-warm foamed bitumen process, HGrant Warm Mix System, Low-emission asphalt. Low-energy asphalt. Meeker warm mix, Terex WMA system. Ultrafoam GX and WAM foam (Nicholls and... 

Asphalt emulsions are used in road paving for the production of a smooth, water-repellant surface. First, an asphalt O/W emulsion is formulated, which has sufficiently low viscosity to be easy to handle and apply, and which has sufficient stability to survive transportation, brief periods of storage, and the application process itself. The emulsion needs to be able to shear thin during application, and then break quickly when it contacts the aggregate. The asphalt emulsions are usually 40-70% bitumen and stabilized either by natural naphthenic surfactants released by treatment with alkali (for a somewhat similar situation involving bitumen processing see also [64]), or else by the addition of anionic or cationic surfactant [106]. Emulsified asphalt can be applied to gravel or rock even when wet [1,20,105,106]. 

As plant engineer of a bitumen processing plant, you have specified in the supplier s contract that the delivered processed bitumen must have a purity of at least 99.0% at a 95% confidence level. You obtain a shipment of bitumen which you test. With 200 samples, you obtain a mean purity of 98.6% with a standard deviation of 0.5%. The company claims that this is sufficiently close that the shipment should be accepted. Should the shipment be rejected at the 95% confidence level ... 

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