On Thursday, 13 May, Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (KFU) reported that its research team had presented an innovative technology for producing asphalt bitumen. The scientists of the 'Rational Utilisation of Planet's Liquid Hydrocarbon Reserves' World-Class Scientific Center proposed using heavy oil, a hydrocarbon material that is rather hard to process. They offer a simple and cost-efficient method for producing high-quality non-oxidised bitumen to be used in road construction, KFU's Press Office informs.
"To obtain bitumen as a half-solid product from heavy oil, one has to extract light fractions, with what is left being non-oxidised bitumen. Because of the relatively low ratio of light fractions in heavy oil, using the latter for bitumen production is both simple and economically viable. The method allows for rational use of both heavy oil and light oil," comments Richard Djimasbe, Junior Research Associate of the Rheological and Thermochemical Research Lab.
Non-traditional reserves, such as heavy oil, natural bitumen, and shale oil, have been found in Canada, Venezuela, Brazil, Russia, Chad, Madagascar and many other countries. As Lab Head Mikhail Varfolomeev adds, the development of these deposits requires introducing new technologies of extraction and refining of reserves in question.
Until now, the only way to produce bitumen from heavy oil was by oxidising it. Kazan University's solution will help diversify bitumen production and meet the increasing demand of the road industry for a high-quality and inexpensive material for making asphalt. Tests of the bitumen obtained by the research team show good performance characteristics, thereby paving the way for the technology to enter mass production. The research results are available in the 'Experimental study of non-oxidised and oxidised bitumen obtained from heavy oil' article, published in Scientific Reports.
Let us recall that Almetyevsk State Petroleum Institute's researchers have developed a new technology for protecting oil wells from mechanical impurities. Their solution can yield significant savings in extracting oil from oil-bearing rock.