Relation between bitumen chemistry and performance》.pdf

Fuel 140 (2015) 34–43 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Fuel journal homepage: www.else /locate/fuel Relation between bitumen chemistry and performance Per Redelius a,⇑, Hilde Soenen b a Nynas AB, SE-149 82 Nynäshamn, Sweden b Nynas NV, Noorderlaan 183, BE2030 Antwerp, Belgium h i g h l i g h t s Interactions between hydrocarbon molecules is very important for the physical properties of the product. The strength of some of the interactions may be estimated by solubility parameters. Large aromatic systems contribute with important interactions not determined in the solubility parameters. The viscosity of a heavy petroleum product may be estimated from molecular weight and aromaticity. The behaviour of the fractions ‘‘asphaltenes’’ may be explained in terms of molecular interactions. a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: The relation between the chemical composition of bitumen and the physical properties, such as viscosity Received 23 April 2014 or viscoelasticity is very important for the use of bitumen as an advanced construction material. In view Received in revised form 30 July 2014 of the limited understanding of the exact molecular structure of the millions of different molecules Accepted 11 September 2014 constituting bitumen, many different proposals for the structure of bitumen have been published over Available online 1 October 2014 the last 100 years. In this paper we propose that in