It was Plastic and now Used Oil..for Btiumen on Road

The construction of asphalt roads would be made ‘greener’ by using waste vegetable oil instead of bitumen, says international building-materials company Aggregate Industries.
According to spokeswoman Helen Bailey, the 1.25M tonnes of bitumen used every year carries a “significant environmental and economic cost”.

She has already been awarded the Fiona and Nicholas Hawley Excellence in Environmental Engineering Award by the Worshipful Company of Engineers for her work.
Now her new system, which is awaiting a patent, will shortly be pioneered on road surfacing projects in Lincolnshire.

She says: “I wanted to find an alternative with the same key properties as bitumen in the asphalt mix, using a waste product readily available in the UK. My new method meets all UK standards, but is much better for the environment.”

She adds: “I was delighted to find that the waste fat produced by cooking chips, one of the nation’s favourite dishes, can be used to glue our roads together!”

Source- New Energy Resources- UK.

Goes without Saying-- BP Shell still making Money on Bitumen

Oil companies Mobil and Caltex may have taken a profit bath last year but the balance sheets of their competitors BP and Shell are scrubbing up nicely.

BP filed its return late last month, recording a $58.2 million after-tax surplus for the year to December 31, a 36 per cent increase on the previous year. Shell posted an $84.3m profit during the same period, a marginal increase compared to 2007.

ExxonMobil and Chevron, operators of Mobil and Caltex petrol stations, last year lost $189m between them. Both companies blamed huge increases in the cost of crude oil and refined petroleum products and foreign exchange losses for the poor results.

Jackie Maitland, Shell spokeswoman, also notes that costs increased sharply during 2008, resulting in a $63m loss on its petroleum sector (rather than the group).
BP spokeswoman Diana Stretch said the reason the oil companies reported such disparate results in the same trading conditions was due to different accounting practices.

''There's quite a difference between what some [companies] include and some don't,'' Stretch says, pointing to the fact that both ExxonMobil and Caltex carry debt priced in US dollars. The New Zealand dollar lost about 40 per cent of its value against the US during 2008.

Maitland says the company's continued profitability stemmed from its diversified portfolio, which includes a 38 per cent stake in privately-owned civil construction company, Fulton Hogan. ''That's a profitable shareholding,'' she notes. Shell also owns a quarter of Loyalty New Zealand, which operates the Fly Buys franchise, in addition to its bitumen, chemicals, service station and New Zealand Refining Company interests. Shell offset the petroleum losses and marginally increased its profit due to its group interests.

While BP was pleased with its result, Stretch says, it was still below expectation given its asset base of $1.2 billion. ''We're part of a global organisation and our parent clearly has expectations of us to provide a return to the shareholder. We will aim for another improvement next year,'' she said.

Meanwhile, Shell expects to announce in early August whethrr it has a buyer for its New Zealand assets after its partner, UBS, issued an ''information memorandum'' on the sale last month. In addition to its 230 petrol stations, Shell is selling its marine terminals, aviation business, commercial fuel, chemicals and bitumen interests, Maitland says.

Source - http://www.stuff.co.nz/

Cutting Road Emission using Old Chips

Old chip fat could be used in road-laying to cut emissions



A new use for old chip fat could help cut emissions created from laying roads, engineers have claimed.


According to Helen Bailey, the use of some 1.25 million tonnes of bitumen in the asphalt industry each year comes at a 'significant environmental and economic cost' as it uses imported crude oil Photo: PA
Helen Bailey, an engineer from Aggregate Industries, has developed a process replacing bitumen, which is normally used in road surfaces to "glue" asphalt together, with waste vegetable oil.

According to Miss Bailey, the use of some 1.25 million tonnes of bitumen in the asphalt industry each year comes at a "significant environmental and economic cost" as it uses imported crude oil.

"I wanted to find an alternative with the same key properties as bitumen in the asphalt mix, using a waste product readily available in the UK.

"My new method meets all UK Standards, but is much better for the environment."

She added: "I was delighted to find that the waste fat produced by cooking one of the nation's favourite dishes can be used to hold together our roads!"

The new system, which is awaiting a patent, will shortly be tested on road surfacing projects in Lincolnshire.

Ms Bailey has already scooped an industry award – the Fiona and Nicholas Hawley Excellence in Environmental Engineering Award by the Worshipful Company of Engineers – for her work.

Source- The Telegraph

Inventors:Barlow, Peter L. (Sutton, GB2)
Riches, Kenneth M. (Northwich, GB2)
Application Number:06/454939 Publication Date:03/05/1985 Filing Date:01/03/1983
Assignee:Shell Oil Company (Houston, TX)

Primary Class:524/62 Other Classes:524/576, 525/54.500, 524/575, 524/572, 524/474, 524/573, 524/68, 524/574, 524/71

International Classes:C08L95/00; C10C3/02; C10C3/00; C08L7/00; C08L95/00; C08L9/00; C08L53/02 Field of Search:524/62, 524/68, 524/71, 524/572, 524/573, 524/574, 524/575, 524/576, 524/474, 525/54.5

Lieberman, Allan M. Attorney, Agent or Firm:Bielinski, Peter A.
Claims:What is claimed is:

1. A process for the manufacture of a cutback of a mixture of bitumen and an unsaturated rubber comprising treating a mixture of bitumen and between 1 and 25% by weight of the bitumen/rubber blend of rubber which has been thoroughly mixed at between 120° C. and 240° C. with between 0.5% and 5% by weight of the bitumen/unsaturated rubber blend of a free radical generator at a temperature of between about 100° and 240° C. and then mixing with between about 5% and 30%w, based on the obtained mixture, of a volatile petroleum oil fraction solvent.

2. A process according to claim 1, wherein the rubber has the general formula: A--B (B--A)n
wherein each A is a thermoplastic polymer block of a monovinyl aromatic hydrocarbon or a 1-alkene, B is an elastomeric polymer block of a conjugated diene and n is an integer, suitably from 1 to 5.


3. A process according to claim 1, wherein the free radical generator is a peroxide.

4. A process according to claim 3, wherein the peroxide is dicumyl peroxide or di-tertiary butyl peroxide.

5. A process according to claim 1, wherein the volatile solvent is kerosine.

6. A process according to claim 1, wherein the bitumen and rubber are mixed to obtain a homogeneous or finely dispersed mixture, whereafter the free radical initiator is added and mixing is continued.

7. A cutback manufactured according to the process of claim 1.

Description:BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a cutback of a mixture of bitumen and rubber and to a cutback thus obtained.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Cutbacks of mixtures of bitumen and rubber can suitably be used, e.g. for surface dressings on roads, in particular on sites exposed to high stresses caused by heavy turning traffic. The cutback is sprayed at the road surface whereafter the surface is covered with chippings, which are preferably precoated with bitumen. The volatile solvent of the cutback, e.g. kerosine, then slowly evaporates and the chippings should show a good retention to the road surface, even under the above-mentioned heavy conditions.

A drawback of such cutbacks is the tendency to form a skin of rubbery material at the upper surface, which skin prevents the further evaporation of the solvent. This causes loss of most of the chippings under said heavy conditions.

The treatment of a mixture of bitumen and rubber with a peroxide in order to prepare cross-linked homogeneous bitumenous compositions which are suitable for e.g. road-building is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,659. The use of cutbacks of these mixtures and the above-described problem encountered with such cutbacks are not mentioned.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose of the invention is providing a cutback which does not show this disadvantage.

The invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a cutback of a mixture of bitumen and rubber comprising treating a mixture of bitumen and rubber with a free radical generator, usually a peroxide at a temperature which, dependent on the choice of the free radical generator, gives a reasonable half life of the latter, preferably between 100° and 240° C., and then mixing with at least 5%w, based on the obtained mixture, of a volatile solvent.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The bitumen preferably has an aromaticity, expressed as the fraction of aromatic carbon in the n-heptane maltene phase (f a ) higher than 0.004×P+0.280, in which P represents the n-heptane asphaltenes content of the bitumen. Petroleum bitumen is preferred.

The bitumen may be a distillation bitumen, a precipitation bitumen, a blown bitumen and blends of two or more of the bitumens mentioned hereinbefore. Preference is given to the application of a distillation bitumen, a precipitation bitumen or a blend of a distillation and a precipitation bitumen.

Very suitable are blends of one or more of the above-mentioned bitumens with aromatic petroleum extracts, aromatic petroleum distillates or paraffinic-naphthenic petroleum distillates in such a proportion that the above-mentioned aromaticity according to the invention is also reached. When a bituminous component of this type is applied preference is given to a blend of a precipitation bitumen and an aromatic petroleum extract, in particular a blend of a propane bitumen and an aromatic extract of a heavy lubricating oil.

The present compositions are preferably prepared starting from bituminous components having a penetration at 25° C. between 10 and 2000 (ASTM D-5-73).

The rubber can be a natural or a synthetic rubber and preferably is an unsaturated rubber. Examples are homopolymers and copolymers of alkadienes and random, tapered and block copolymers of alkadienes and/or alkenes and/or monovinyl aromatic monomers. Suitable alkadienes are conjugated alkadienes, such as butadiene and isoprene. Suitable monovinyl aromatic monomers are styrene and alkyl styrenes. Blends of more than one rubber may also be used.

Preferred are linear or branched synthetic rubbers having the general formula: A--B (B--A) n

wherein each A is a thermoplastic polymer block of a monovinyl aromatic hydrocarbon or a 1-alkene, B is an elastomeric polymer block of a conjugated diene or more than 1-alkene and n is an integer, suitably from 1 to 5, or a partly or fully hydrogenated derivative of the block copolymer.

The polymer blocks A preferably have a number average molecular weight, in the range of from 2,000 to 100,000, particularly from 7,500 to 50,000. The polymer block B preferably has an average molecular weight in the range of from 25,000 to 1,000,000, particularly from 35,000 to 150,000. Whenever according to the branched configuration two or more blocks B are immediately adjacent to each other they are treated as a single block for purposes of molecular weight. The amount of polymer blocks A in the block copolymers preferably ranges from 10 to 70%w, particularly from 20 to 50%w. As examples of monovinyl aromatics suitable for the preparation of the polymer blocks in the present block copolymers may be mentioned styrene and alpha-methyl styrene. As conjugated dienes suitable for the preparation of the polymer blocks B in the present block copolymers, preferably dienes with from 4 to 8 carbon atoms per molecule are chosen, particularly butadiene and isoprene. Polymer blocks B may also be derived by the copolymerization of one or more conjugated dienes with one or more monovinyl aromatic compounds. The 1-alkenes useful for the preparation of either the thermoplastic blocks A or the elastomeric blocks B include 1-alkenes having from 2 to 12 carbon atoms per molecule, such as ethylene, propylene, butene-1, hexene-1 and octene-1.

Suitable examples of the block copolymers considered herein are as follows: polystyrene-polyisoprene-polystyrene, polystyrene-polybutadiene-polystyrene, polyethylene-(ethylene-propylene copolymer)-polyethylene, and their hydrogenated counterparts, particularly of the block copolymers containing diene homopolymer blocks.

The rubbers may be mixed with extender oils, such as nonvolatile petroleum oils.

Preferred proportions of rubber are between 1 to 25%w, preferably 3-10%w, based on the bitumen/rubber blend.

These blends may contain additional ingredients, such as carbon black, etc.

Suitable peroxides are organic peroxides, preferably dicumyl peroxide, di-tertiary butyl peroxide and tertiary butyl hydroperoxide.

Preferred proportions of peroxide are between 0.5 and 5%w, preferably 1-3%w, based on the bitumen/rubber blend.

Suitable volatile solvents are volatile petroleum oil fractions, such as kerosine. Preferred proportions are 5-30%w, preferably 10-20%w, based on the bitumen/rubber blend.

In the present process the bitumen should thoroughly be mixed with the rubber, e.g. for 1-5 hours, and preferably prior to the addition of the peroxide. This mixing should take place at 120°-240° C., preferably 140°-180° C., so that the viscosity of the mixture is low enough to allow for efficient mixing. If desirable the bitumen can be partly cutback, e.g. with kerosine, to lower the viscosity of the mixture.

The peroxide is preferably added after a homogeneous or finely dispersed bitumen/rubber blend is obtained. Mixing is then continued, preferably at 120°-160° C., for a further 0.5-5 hours. Then the volatile solvent is added to produce a sprayable mixture, preferably sprayable at a temperature of 130°-160° C.

The cutbacks of this invention are particularly suitable for surface dressings on roads, but can also be used for other purposes, such as in the roofing and building industry and for hydraulic works.

EXAMPLES

1. 96%w distillation petroleum bitumen, penetration 200 (25° C., 0.1 mm, ASTM D-5-73) (200 kg) and 4%w polystyrene/polybutadiene/polystyrene block copolymer (mol. wt 16,200/137,600/16,200) were stirred at 160°-170° C. for 1.5 hours. The blend was cooled to 140° C. and 2%w dicumyl peroxide was then added in one lot. The mixture was stirred vigorously at 140° for a further 3 hours. To this mixture 15%w kerosine was added to produce a cutback having a viscosity of 80 cS at 150° C. and being easily sprayable by commercial road maintenance equipment at a pressure of 2.6 bar at 150°-160° C.

Road trials were carried out with this cutback at a site exposed to heavy turning traffic. The surface dressing prepared with this cutback cured with no skin formation and the chippings were retained.

2. Example 1 was repeated except that 1.5%w of the peroxide, a mixing time after adding the peroxide of 1.5 hours at 140° C. and 9%w kerosine were used to produce an easily sprayable cutback.

3. Example 2 was repeated except that 1.5%w di-t-butyl peroxide was used to produce a similar cutback.

4. Example 2 was repeated except that a branched polystyrene/polybutadiene block copolymer (mol. wt 20,000/75,000 per arm, polystyrene end block, 4 arms) was used. 5. A blend of 64%w propane bitumen and 36%w furfural extract of Bright Stock was prepared by mixing at 140° C. for 1 hour. 191.25 kg of the above blend were heated to 160° C. and 5 kg of the branched copolymer of Example 4 in a powder form were added slowly while being stirred with a high speed mixer. When a satisfactory dispersion had been achieved the temperature was lowered to 140° C. and 3.75 kg of dicumyl peroxide were added in increments over 5 minutes with continuous stirring. Samples taken at 1/2 hour intervals over 2 hours showed on microscopic examination to be essentially homogeneous. The resulting product was cooled to 120° C. and kerosine (19.8 kg) was added to achieve a suitable viscosity for spraying.

6. COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE


Example 1 was repeated except that no peroxide was used. The obtained cutback was a very coarse dispersion which caused blockage of spray jets and separation of the rubber phase on storage.

A surface dressing prepared with this cutback showed skin formation and quick loss of its chippings.

High Interest for Nigerian Bitumen Blocks

Sixteen investors from Nigeria, China, United States, Canada and South Africa, yesterday put in Expressions of Interest for the existing bitumen blocks in the country.

Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mrs Deziani Alison-Madueke, while speaking in Abuja, at a news briefing on outcome of opening of bids at the end of a bidding round concluded last week, also promised that millions of jobs would be created from the bitumen industry when it is fully operational.
She said the companies were very pleased, because "that is quite a robust selection in terms of expression of interest.

Alison-Madueke said the next stage in the bidding process would be evaluation of documents during which they would select the credible ones, which will go forward and then would be invited to formally submit their bids for the blocks, adding that the entire bidding process should be completed by the end of this year.
She said,“we have put out three blocks as I said - Blocks A, B and C. Or we created three blocks. Block A is approximately 4,170 square kilometres, Block C is approximately 3,707 square kilometers. At this time, Block B has not been put forward. It will put forward at a later date.

She said the current bidding process began on June 1, 2009, and closed July 2, after the advertisement was placed in four national daily papers. THISDAY, Vanguard, PUNCH and Daily Trust, as well as the Financial Times of London.
“A whole deal of job opportunities are going to rise up around the entire bitumen bidding process,” Alison-Madueke said.

Millions of jobs in terms of employment generation, and poverty alleviation are going to be created the moment mobilisation starts for these blocks. The moment mobilisation starts, all sorts of service companies will crop up around the area of exploration and exploitation, he said.

Source- Thisday.com

Bitumen Shortage in Australia

THE road gang working on one of Western Australia's biggest construction projects, the $705 million Perth to Bunbury Highway, often laugh about how they were laying the 70km-long dual carriageway so fast they ran out of bitumen.

They aren't joking. A major upgrade to the Great Northern Highway, extensions to Wanneroo Road, north of Perth, and the creation of Indian Ocean Drive between Lancelin and Cervantes -- collectively worth hundreds of millions of state and federal dollars -- have broken productivity records, sparking a state-wide bitumen shortage.

Wally Lukiac, manager of WA Limestone, one of the contractors on the highway, said: "The guys have probably been through the phase where they pat themselves on the back in terms of achieving these wonderful production levels and then getting ahead of the supplier."

While this delayed work on the highway for three weeks in May, pushing the completion date back to early next month, the project is still about four months ahead of schedule.

But Western Australia's road-building program is far from complete. State and federal budgets allocated $1.37 billion this year to the main roads department for other projects.

More than two-thirds, or $793.4m, will be spent on country roads, including the Bunbury port access road and the Mandurah entrance road.

West Australian Transport Minister Simon O'Brien said: "The roads budget reflects the growth in WA's economy and is designed to meet community demand for improved road transport services."

Western Australia is embarking on its biggest infrastructure spending ever, with a major new Perth hospital, a second $1bn desalination plant and a number of schools, rail, port and other projects planned for construction.

For holidaymakers and southern coastal communities, the Perth to Bunbury highway is the main focus and the day it opens cannot come soon enough.

Residents living in Mandurah, a satellite city south of Perth better known for its bottlenecks than its holiday village atmosphere, can't wait for a reprieve from congested traffic during long weekends and school holidays.

And the thousands of Perth holidaymakers who flock "down south" to enjoy the famed wineries and beaches in Margaret River, Dunsborough and Yallingup will also benefit from a 45-minute reduction in the well-worn journey. Mandurah Mayor Paddi Creevey said the project had been in the planning since the 1970s, when the area was known for its retirees and fishing and had a population of about 3000.

The city's population has now swelled to 65,000 after families in search of a seachange took advantage of house-and-land packages on offer due to sprawling development.

"We've had population growth of around 5 per cent for many, many years and that rate of growth is still continuing," Ms Creevey said. Mr Lukiac said the bitumen shortage came as a surprise and affected the whole state.

"No one anticipated the ramp-up required for this particular project," Mr Lukiac said.

"There was a period of three to four weeks where things were being rationed, so right through the state people were being told they had to have a cap on how much bitumen they could have."

Workers on the project were forced to reduce their productivity, something they found difficult after working flat out since December 2006.

He said the highway was easily WA Limestone's biggest project ever but, with the job almost complete, the company was now concerned about the future.

"It's taken us through a period of incredibly high levels of activity," Mr Lukiac said.

"It's now finishing when that's completely changed. We're finishing this job when we would love to be starting ... we're busy trying to find work."

Source - The Australian

Another Bitumen Scam

RANCHI: The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday ordered for a CBI probe into the multi-crore bitumen scam and directed the agency to submit its inquiry
report within three months.

Hearing a PIL filed by Mohd Tahir, the division bench comprising Justice M Y Iqbal and Justice D K Sinha said the CBI would investigate the matter irrespective of the positions of those involved in the scam.

The court in its order said prima-facie it was of the view that the government was not serious about the matter which needed proper inquiry. Therefore, the court directs the CBI to investigate into the matter and submit its report within three months.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Rajiv Kumar during the hearing argued that ministers, secretaries, deputy secretaries and others are involved and they were the one who gave orders to subordinate officials.

Kumar referred to a letter written by state finance secretary which indicated that fake vouchers were prepared to show fake purchases. The finance department wrote to the road construction department saying the findings show largescale corruption.

The court expressed concern over large number of PILs filed.

"The PILs indicate that Jharkhand is flooded with different types of scams. It appears that large scale embezzlement and bungling of funds have been done in procurement of bitumen," the court said.

The court said the petition indicates that the chief engineer had found various irregularities in procurement of bitumen and observed that public money had been siphoned off. The counter-affidavit filed and sworn by junior-most officers indicate no legal action has been initiated against anyone.

Earlier, Tahir in his petition claimed that the Comptroller and Accountant General (CAG) of India and the Accountant General (AG) found serious irregularities in bitumen procurement which was not less than Rs 100 crore.

The PIL indicated contractors-engineers-politician nexus and said bitumen was procured on fake challans and on invoices of kerosene from several oil producing companies.
Source- Times of India

Nigeria Moves with Bitumen

Vice President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has urged businessmen and investors to explore the opportunities in solid minerals development in Nigeria, stating that government was determined to diversify the country’s economy.

Speaking, weekend, at a briefing of a group of investors on “Bitumen, New Strategic Investment in Nigeria Mining Sector”, organised by the Ministry of Solid Minerals in London, Jonathan said bitumen development in Nigeria was another gold mine waiting to be explored by investors.

He also said that government had reformed the Mining Act of 2007 to remove ambiguity and drive the process to develop the sector.
Jonathan emphasised that the administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua had opened up the economy through several reform programmes .

He listed the programmes to include privatisation, commercialisation, Private/ Public Partnership (PPP) Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) processes, noting that despite the global economic recession, the banking sector in Nigeria was strong enough to support any investments.

He also noted that government was moving away from subsistence farming to mechanised farming and encouraged investors to take advantage of this and invest in the agriculture and agro-allied sectors in the country.
He assured that government had provided better infrastructure, enhanced security and manpower development, saying the crisis in the Niger Delta was not a threat as some militants had accepted the amnesty offered by government .

Source- Thisday.

MEG Group in for 3rd Phase

CALGARY - Privately owned oilsands player MEG Energy Corp. has filed an application with provincial regulators for the third phase of its Christina Lake in situ oilsands project, the Herald has learned.

Insiders said the application filed Tuesday - six months behind schedule - to the Energy Resources Conservation Board signals a return of optimism in the oilsands sector which has seen billions of dollars in projects shelved or cancelled due to low oil prices and tight economics.

The expansion would add 150,000 barrels of bitumen production per day to MEG Energy's two first phases of Christina Lake, expected to produce 60,000 bpd of bitumen.
Source- The herald
domeara@theherald.canwest.com