TITLE:
Extraction of Chemical Constituents of Bitumen Using a Mixed Solvent System
AUTHORS:
Ezekiel Oluyemi Odebunmi, Abimbola George Olaremu
KEYWORDS:
Bitumen, Sara, Ftir, Solvent System
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.5 No.8,
August
24,
2015
ABSTRACT: Several solvents had been used to extract the SARA (Saturate, Aromatic, Resin and Asphaltene) constituents of bitumen. The quantification of such extracts also abounds in open literature but in this work an attempt was made to determine the quality of extraction as a feed stock for processing bitumen using a mixed solvent system. A mixture of heptane and toluene was used to compare with the standard method using heptane. The components were analysed for functional groups of compound types presented in them using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometry technique (FTIR). The quality of bitumen component extract was not significantly affected by the method of extraction as recommended by the ASTM. The components are mixture of different class of hydrocarbons such as saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons which conformed to what had earlier been reported by other researchers.