Asphalt

 is a heavy, dark brown to black mineral substance, one of several mixtures of hydrocarbons
called bitumens.
 a strong, versatile weather and chemical-resistant binding material which adapts itself to a
variety of uses.

Raw Materials

 used in modern asphalt manufacturing is petroleum, which is a naturally occurring liquid

bitumen.
 Asphalt is a natural constituent of petroleum, and there are crude oils which are almost entirely
asphalt.
 Oil wells supply the crude petroleum to the oil refineries, where it is separated into its various
components or fractions.

The Manufacturing

Process- Crude petroleum is separated into its various fractions through a distillation process at the oil
refinery. After separation, these fractions are further refined into other products which include asphalt,
paraffin, gasoline, naphtha, lubricating oil, kerosene, and diesel oil. Since asphalt is the base or heavy
constituent of crude petroleum, it does not evaporate or boil off during the distillation process. Asphalt
is essentially the heavy residue of the oil refining process. These are the process:

 Distilling the crude

 Cutting back
 Emulsifying
 Pulverizing
 Air Blowing
҉ASPHALT Paving Mixtures

Distilling the crude- The refining process starts by piping the crude petroleum from a storage tank into a
heat exchanger or tube heater where its temperature is rapidly raised for initial distillation. It then
enters an atmospheric distillation tower where the lighter and more volatile components, or fractions,
vaporize and are drawn off through a series of condensers and coolers. It is then separated for further
refining into gasoline (considered a "light" distillate), kerosene (considered a "medium" distillate), diesel
oil (considered a "heavy" distillate), and many other useful petroleum products.

The heavy residue from this atmospheric distillation process is commonly called topped crude. This
topped crude may be used for fuel oil or further processed into other products such as asphalt. Vacuum
distillation may remove enough high boiling fractions to yield what is called a "straight run" asphalt.
However, if the topped crude contains enough low volatile components which cannot be economically
removed through distillation, solvent extraction—also known as solvent deasphalting—may be required
to produce asphalt cement of the desired consistency
Cutting back

Asphalt may next be blended or "cut back" with a volatile substance, resulting in a product that is soft
and workable at a lower temperature than pure asphalt cement. When the cut-back asphalt is used for
paving or construction, the volatile element evaporates when exposed to air or heat, leaving the hard
asphalt cement. The relative speed of evaporation or volatility of the cutting agent determines whether
a cutback asphalt is classified as slow, medium, or rapid-curing. Heated asphalt cement is mixed with
residual asphaltic oil from the earlier distillation process for a slow-curing asphalt, with kerosene for
medium-curing, and with gasoline or naphtha for the rapid-curing asphalt.

Emulsifying

3 The asphalt cement may also be emulsified to produce a liquid that can be easily pumped through
pipes, mixed with aggregate, or sprayed through nozzles. To emulsify, the asphalt cement is ground into
globules 5 to 10 microns and smaller (one micron is equal to one millionth of a meter). This is mixed
with water. An emulsifying agent is added, which reduces the tendency of the asphalt and water to
separate. The emulsifying agent may be colloidal clay, soluble or insoluble silicates, soap, or sulphonated
vegetable oils.

Pulverizing

4 Asphalt may also be pulverized to produce a powdered asphalt. The asphalt is crushed and passed
through a series of fine mesh sieves to ensure uniform size of the granules. Powered asphalt can be
mixed with road oil and aggregate for pavement construction. The heat and pressure in the road slowly
amalgamates the powder with the aggregate and binding oil, and the substance hardens to a
consistency similar to regular asphalt cement.

Air Blowing

iIf the asphalt is to be used for a purpose other than paving, such as roofing, pipe coating, or as an
undersealant or water-proofing material, the asphalt may be oxidized, or air blown. This process
produces a material that softens at a higher temperature than paving asphalts. It may be air blown at
the refinery, at an asphalt processing plant, or at a roofing material plant. The asphalt is heated to 500°F
(260°C). Then air is bubbled through it for one to 4.5 hours. When cooled, the asphalt remains liquid.

Asphalt Paving Mixtures

Since asphalt cement is a major constituent used in road paving, the following is a brief description of
how asphalt paving mixtures are produced. Asphalt paving mixes made with asphalt cement are usually
prepared at an asphalt mixing facility. There are two types of asphalt mixes: hot-mix and cold-mix. Hot-
mix asphalt (HMA) is more commonly used while cold-mix asphalt (generally mixes made with
emulsified or cut-back asphalts) is usually used for light to medium traffic secondary roads, or for
remote locations or maintenance use. Hot-mix asphalts are a mixture of suitable aggregate coated with
asphalt cement. The term "hot-mix" comes from the process of heating the aggregate and asphalt
before mixing to remove moisture from the aggregate and to obtain sufficient fluidity of the asphalt
cement for proper mixing and work-ability.
6 Asphalt cement and aggregate are combined in a mixing facility where they are heated, proportioned,
and mixed to produce the desired paving mixture. Hot-mix facilities may be permanently located (also
called "stationary" facilities), or it may be portable and moved from job to job. Hot-mix facilities may be
classified as either a batch facility or a drum-mix facility, both can be either stationary or portable.
Batch-type hot-mixing facilities use different size fractions of hot aggregate which are drawn in
proportional amounts from storage bins to make up one batch for mixing. The combination of
aggregates is dumped into a mixing chamber called a pugmill. The asphalt, which has also been weighed,
is then thoroughly mixed with the aggregate in the pugmill. After mixing, the material is then emptied
from the pugmill into trucks, storage silos, or surge bins. The drum-mixing process heats and blends the
aggregate with asphalt all at the same time in the drum mixer.

7 When the mixing is complete, the hot-mix is then transported to the paving site and spread in a
partially compacted layer to a uniform, even surface with a paving machine. While still hot, the paving
mixture is further compacted by heavy rolling machines to produce a smooth pavement surface.

Quality Control

The quality of asphalt cement is affected by the inherent properties of the petroleum crude oil from
which it was produced. Different oil fields and areas produce crude oils with very different
characteristics. The refining method also affects the quality of the asphalt cement. For engineering and
construction purposes, there are three important factors to consider: consistency, also called the
viscosity or the degree of fluidity of asphalt at a particular temperature, purity, and safety.

The consistency or viscosity of asphalt cement varies with temperature, and asphalt is graded based on
ranges of consistency at a standard temperature. Careless temperature and mixing control can cause
more hardening damage to asphalt cement than many years of service on a roadway. A standardized
viscosity or penetration test is commonly specified to measure paving asphalt consistency. Air-blown
asphalts typically use a softening point test.

Purity of asphalt cement can be easily tested since it is composed almost entirely of bitumen, which is
soluble in carbon disulfide. Refined asphalts are usually more than 99.5% soluble in carbon disulfide and
any impurities that remain are inert. Because of the hazardous flammable nature of carbon disulfide,
trichloroethylene (TCE), which is also an excellent solvent for asphalt cement, is used in the solubility
purity tests.

Asphalt cement must be free of water or moisture as it leaves the refinery. However, transports loading
the asphalt may have moisture present in their tanks. This can cause the asphalt to foam when it is
heated above 212°F (100°C), which is a safety hazard. Specifications usually require that asphalts not
foam at temperatures up to 347°F (175°C). Asphalt cement, if heated to a high enough temperature, will
release fumes which will flash in the presence of a spark or open flame. The temperature at which this
occurs is called the flashpoint, and is well above temperatures normally used in paving operations.
Because of the possibility of asphalt foaming and to ensure an adequate margin of safety, the flashpoint
of the asphalt is measured and controlled.

Another important engineering property of asphalt cement is its ductility, which is a measure of a
material's ability to be pulled, drawn, or deformed. In asphalt cements, the presence or absence of
ductility is usually more important than the actual degree of ductility because some asphalt cements
with a high degree of ductility are also more temperature sensitive. Ductility is measured by an
"extension" test, whereby a standard asphalt cement briquette molded under standard conditions and
dimensions is pulled at a standard temperature (normally 77°F [25°C]) until it breaks under tension. The
elongation at which the asphalt cement sample breaks is a measure of the ductility of the sample.

Byproducts/Waste

Environmental protection laws have developed stringent codes limiting water flows and particulate and
smoke emissions from oil refineries and asphalt processing plants. Not only dust but sulfur dioxides,
smoke, and many other emissions must be rigorously controlled. Electrostatic precipitators, primary
dust collectors using single or multiple cone cyclones, and secondary collection units consisting of fabric
filter collectors commonly called "baghouses" are all required equipment to control emissions.
Hydrocarbons formed in asphalt production, if unchecked, create odoriferous fumes and pollutants
which will stain and darken the air. Pollutants emitted from asphalt production are controlled by
enclosures which capture the exhaust and then recirculate it through the heating process. This not only
eliminates the pollution but also increases the heating efficiency of the process.

Higher costs of asphalt cement, stone, and sand have forced the industry to increase efficiencies and
recycle old asphalt pavements. In asphalt pavement recycling, materials reclaimed from old pavements
are reprocessed along with new materials. The three major categories of asphalt recycling are 1) hot-mix
recycling, where reclaimed materials are combined with new materials in a central plant to produce hot-
mix paving mixtures, 2) cold-mix recycling, where reclaimed materials are combined with new materials
either onsite or at a central plant to produce cold-mix base materials, and 3) surface recycling, a process
in which the old asphalt surface pavement is heated in place, scraped down or "scarified," remixed,
relaid, and rolled. Organic asphalt recycling agents may also be added to help restore the aged asphalt
to desired specifications.

Because of solvent evaporation and volatility, use of cutback asphalts, especially rapidcure cutback
asphalts which use gasoline or naphtha, is becoming more restricted or prohibited while emulsified
asphalts (in which only the water evaporates) are becoming more popular because of cost and
environmental regulations.

The Future

Increasing economic and environmental needs will bring many new technical frefinements to recycling
old asphalt pavements, such as using microwaves to completely break down the pavement. Microwaves
heat the crushed rock in asphalt pavement faster than the surrounding cement, which is then warmed
by the radiant heat from the rock. This method prevents the asphalt cement from burning.

Alternative sources of raw material are being researched, such as the production of synthetic asphalt
from the liquefaction of sewage sludge. To ensure consistent product quality, new methods are being
developed for manufacturing modified asphalts and emulsions. Many new tests are being developed to
help characterize asphalts, such as high-performance gel-permeation chromatography (HP-GPC), which
allows many properties to be studied and the results compiled in only a few minutes. New processes,
more efficient mixing and milling units, in-line liquid mass flow meters, on-line monitoring systems, and
new safety equipment are some other areas being investigated for improvement.

Polymer-modified asphalt crack sealers are gaining in popularity, and many other asphalt modifiers are
being developed. Modifiers are added to control pavement rutting, cracking, asphalt oxidation, and
water damage. Some commercially available asphalt modifiers are polymers, including elastomers,
metal complexes, elemental sulfur, fibers, hydrated lime, Portland cement, silicones, various fillers, and
organic anti-strip agents. Many of these modifiers have not been extensively used and are being
researched for further development. It might even be possible one day to have "smart asphalt cements"
by mixing in certain asphalt friction modifiers which would allow it to change characteristics depending
on whether moisture was present. In conjunction with antilock brakes, automatic traction controls, and
airbags, this could serve to save many lives on our nation's highways