Upgrading properties of asphalts with wax (ExxonMobil)

CATEGORY: ASPHALT
Upgrading properties of asphalts with wax (ExxonMobil)

Type	Patent
Inventor	Pavel Kriz
Inventor	Katherine Lynn Sokol
URL	Free Full Text Source:  http://www.google.com/patents/US20140076777
Extra	BACKGROUND Asphalt is one of the world's oldest engineering materials, having been used since the beginning of civilization. Asphalt is a strong, versatile and chemical-resistant binding material that adapts itself to a variety of uses. For example, asphalt is used to bind crushed stone and gravel into firm tough surfaces for roads, streets, and airport runways. Asphalt, also known as pitch, can be obtained from either natural deposits, or as a by-product of the petroleum industry. Natural asphalts were extensively used until the early 1900s. The discovery of refining asphalt from crude petroleum and the increasing popularity of the automobile served to greatly expand the asphalt industry. Modern petroleum asphalt has the same durable qualities as naturally occurring asphalt, with the added advantage of being refined to a uniform condition substantially free of organic and mineral impurities. Most of the petroleum asphalt produced today is used for road surfacing. Asphalt is also used for expansion joints and patches on concrete roads, as well as for airport runways, tennis courts, playgrounds, and floors in buildings. Another major use of asphalt is in asphalt shingles and roll-roofing which is typically comprised of felt saturated with asphalt. The asphalt helps to preserve and waterproof the roofing material. Other applications for asphalt include waterproofing tunnels, bridges, dams and reservoirs, rust-proofing and sound-proofing metal pipes and automotive under-bodies; and sound-proofing walls and ceilings. The raw material used in modern asphalt manufacturing is petroleum, which is naturally occurring liquid bitumen. Asphalt is a natural constituent of petroleum, and there are crude oils that are almost entirely asphalt. The crude petroleum is separated into its various fractions through a distillation process. After separation, these fractions are further refined into other products such as 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. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0319577 describes asphalt modifiers for “warm mix” applications. An asphalt is combined with 0.2. wt % to 10 wt % of an additive package. The additive package is described as including from 10-60 wt % of an amine or modified amine surfactant and from 20-90 wt % of a rheology modifying component corresponding to a mixture of a wax and a vegetable or petroleum resin.
Assignee	Exxonmobil Research And Engineering Company
Patent Number	US20140076777 A1
Issue Date	Mar 20, 2014
Abstract	Methods are provided for upgrading the quality of an asphalt containing wax. This can include base asphalts that naturally contain elevated levels of wax, such as base asphalts with a wax content of at least 3.0 wt %. Additionally or alternately, this can include a base asphalt containing subsequently added wax. Wax generated at a refinery can be added to an asphalt along with a pour point depressant to form an asphalt product. The additional wax can reduce the viscosity of the asphalt product at higher temperatures so that the asphalt product can be mixed and stored at a tower temperature. Additionally, the pour point depressant can unexpectedly improve the low temperature properties of the wax-containing asphalt product.

Synergistic asphalt crude compositions (ExxonMobil)

CATEGORY: ASPHALT
Synergistic asphalt crude compositions (ExxonMobil)

Type	Patent
Inventor	Lyle Edwin Moran
Inventor	Mary Josephine Gale
URL	Free Full Text Source:  http://www.google.com/patents/US20140174981
Assignee	Exxonmobil Research And Engineering Company
Patent Number	US20140174981 A1
Issue Date	Jun 26, 2014
Abstract	Methods are provided for forming an asphalt fraction corresponding to a blend of asphalts, the asphalt fraction having at least one property that is unexpectedly better than the expected property value based on the individual asphalts used in the blend. The unexpectedly beneficial blends of asphalts are formed in part by including an effective amount of a Napo crude oil or crude fraction in the feed used to form the asphalt fraction. For some asphalt blends, including an effective amount of a Napo crude in the feed can allow for production of an asphalt with a low temperature performance grade that is lower than the predicted value by at least 0.5° C., such as at least 0.75° C. or at least 1.0° C. BACKGROUND Asphalt is one of the world's oldest engineering materials, having been used since the beginning of civilization. Asphalt is a strong, versatile and chemical-resistant binding material that adapts itself to a variety of uses. For example, asphalt is used to bind crushed stone and gravel into firm tough surfaces for roads, streets, and airport runways. Asphalt, also known as pitch, can be obtained from either natural deposits, or as a by-product of the petroleum industry. Natural asphalts were extensively used until the early 1900s. The discovery of refining asphalt from crude petroleum and the increasing popularity of the automobile served to greatly expand the asphalt industry. Modern petroleum asphalt has the same durable qualities as naturally occurring asphalt, with the added advantage of being refined to a uniform condition substantially free of organic and mineral impurities. Most of the petroleum asphalt produced today is used for road surfacing. Asphalt is also used for expansion joints and patches on concrete roads, as well as for airport runways, tennis courts, playgrounds, and floors in buildings. Another major use of asphalt is in asphalt shingles and roll-roofing which is typically comprised of felt saturated with asphalt. The asphalt helps to preserve and waterproof the roofing material. Other applications for asphalt include waterproofing tunnels, bridges, dams and reservoirs, rust-proofing and sound-proofing metal pipes and automotive under-bodies; and sound-proofing walls and ceilings. The raw material used in modern asphalt manufacturing is petroleum, which is naturally occurring liquid bitumen. Asphalt is a natural constituent of petroleum, and there are crude oils that are almost entirely asphalt. The crude petroleum is separated into its various fractions through a distillation process. After separation, these fractions are further refined into other products such as 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.

Property prediction for asphalts from blended sources (Exxonmobil)

CATEGORY: ASPHALT 
Property prediction for asphalts from blended sources (Exxonmobil)

Type	Patent
Inventor	Pavel Kriz
Inventor	Lyle Edwin Moran
Inventor	John H. Brownie
URL	Free Full Text: http://www.google.com/patents/US20140180650
Assignee	Exxonmobil Research And Engineering Company
Patent Number	US20140180650 A1
Issue Date	Jun 26, 2014
Abstract	Methods are provided for predicting the properties of an asphalt fraction that contains two or more asphalt components based on measurements of the viscosity for the asphalt fraction. Based on the measured viscosity, a virtual cut point is determined for a virtual asphalt blend that has the same viscosity (to within a tolerance value) as the measured viscosity for the asphalt fraction. The virtual cut point is then used to determine a variety of predicted property values for the asphalt fraction. Optionally, the predicted property values can be used to adjust the actual cut point for the distillation or separation process used for forming the asphalt fraction. BACKGROUND Asphalt is one of the world's oldest engineering materials, having been used since the beginning of civilization. Asphalt is a strong, versatile and chemical-resistant binding material that adapts itself to a variety of uses. For example, asphalt is used to bind crushed stone and gravel into firm tough surfaces for roads, streets, and airport runways. Asphalt, also known as pitch, can be obtained from either natural deposits, or as a by-product of the petroleum industry. Natural asphalts were extensively used until the early 1900s. The discovery of refining asphalt from crude petroleum and the increasing popularity of the automobile served to greatly expand the asphalt industry. Modern petroleum asphalt has the same durable qualities as naturally occurring asphalt, with the added advantage of being refined to a uniform condition substantially free of organic and mineral impurities. The raw material used in modern asphalt manufacturing is petroleum, which is naturally occurring liquid bitumen. Asphalt is a natural constituent of petroleum, and there are crude oils that are almost entirely asphalt. The crude petroleum is separated into its various fractions through a distillation process. After separation, these fractions are further refined into other products such as 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. Because asphalt is a residue from an oil refining process, if a blend of oils from more than one crude source is used as an input, the resulting asphalt residue will also represent a combination of the oils. Due to lower reliability of resulting asphalt quality prediction, proportions of individual crudes in the slate cannot be economized and a quality buffer is typically required. In the other words, a blend of feeds is selected that is conservative on quality, such as by using a higher percentage of heavy asphaltic feeds than is strictly needed, in order to increase the likelihood of meeting the asphalts specifications after manufacturing is done. However, having to select a heavier blend of feeds to form a desired asphalt can cause difficulties in other parts of a refinery, as using the heavier crudes that typically produce higher quality asphalt can limit the distillation throughput for the refinery. Although individual asphalts can be characterized relative to a cut point temperature for separating heavy oil from the asphalt residue, conventional methods of characterizing blends of asphalts have been only partially successful. As a result, when a blend of oils is used to form an asphalt, the asphalt is usually characterized experimentally to determine all or nearly all specifications that determine the suitability of an asphalt for various potential uses. During this characterization time, storage tanks or another means for holding the asphalt prior to sale are required. If sufficient storage is not available, it may result in the slowing or even stopping of one or more additional refinery processes until the asphalt can be characterized and assigned a grade for sale.

Asphalt production from oil sand bitumen (Exxonmobil)

CATEGORY: ASPHALT 
Asphalt production from oil sand bitumen (Exxonmobil)

Type	Patent
Inventor	John H. Brownie
Inventor	Mary Josephine Gale
Inventor	Lyle Edwin Moran
URL	Free Full Text: http://www.google.com/patents/US20140042055
Extra	BACKGROUND Asphalt is one of the world's oldest engineering materials, having been used since the beginning of civilization. Asphalt is a strong, versatile and chemical-resistant binding material that adapts itself to a variety of uses. For example, asphalt is used to bind crushed stone and gravel into firm tough surfaces for roads, streets, and airport runways. Asphalt, also known as pitch, can be obtained from either natural deposits, or as a by-product of the petroleum industry. Natural asphalts were extensively used until the early 1900s. The discovery of refining asphalt from crude petroleum and the increasing popularity of the automobile served to greatly expand the asphalt industry. Modern petroleum asphalt has the same durable qualities as naturally occurring asphalt, with the added advantage of being refined to a uniform condition substantially free of organic and mineral impurities. Most of the petroleum asphalt produced today is used for road surfacing. Asphalt is also used for expansion joints and patches on concrete roads, as well as for airport runways, tennis courts, playgrounds, and floors in buildings. Another major use of asphalt is in asphalt shingles and roll-roofing which is typically comprised of felt saturated with asphalt. The asphalt helps to preserve and waterproof the roofing material. Other applications for asphalt include waterproofing tunnels, bridges, dams and reservoirs, rust-proofing and sound-proofing metal pipes and automotive under-bodies; and sound-proofing walls and ceilings. The raw material used in modern asphalt manufacturing is petroleum, which is naturally occurring liquid bitumen. Asphalt is a natural constituent of petroleum, and there are crude oils that are almost entirely asphalt. The crude petroleum is separated into its various fractions through a distillation process. After separation, these fractions are further refined into other products such as 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. U.S. Pat. No. 8,114,274 describes a method for treating bitumen froth with high bitumen recovery and dual quality bitumen production. The method includes using multiple gravity settling steps to separate phases containing bitumen in a hydrocarbon diluent from phases containing water, fine solids, and residual bitumen. Naphtha is provided as an example of a hydrocarbon diluent. One described advantage of the method is generation of a lighter bitumen stream that is suitable for transport by pipeline without further processing. U.S. Published Patent Application 2012/0000831 describes methods for separating out a solvent feed after use in recovery of bitumen from oil sands. The method includes treating a bitumen froth with a paraffinic or naphthenic type diluent to produce bitumen and froth treatment tailings. Toluene is identified as a naphthenic type diluent that can improve bitumen recovery from tailings
Assignee	Exxonmobil Research And Engineering Company
Patent Number	US20140042055 A1
Issue Date	Feb 13, 2014
Abstract	Methods are provided for making asphalt from crude oils derived from mined oil sands that have been subjected to a solvent froth treatment as part of the process for making a crude oil that is suitable for pipeline transport. A froth treatment is used that preserves a greater percentage of the asphaltene content of the crude oil derived from the mined oil sands.

Asphalt compositions with cracking resistance additives (Exxonmobil)

CATEGORY: ASPHALT 
Asphalt compositions with cracking resistance additives (Exxonmobil)

Type	Patent
Inventor	Lyle Edwin Moran
Inventor	Laura Frances McKibben
URL	Free Full Text: http://www.google.com/patents/US20140135431
Assignee	Exxonmobil Research And Engineering Company
Patent Number	US20140135431 A1
Issue Date	May 15, 2014
Abstract	Methods are provided for upgrading the quality of an asphalt. The methods include mixing an asphalt feed with a cracking resistance additive that improves the low temperature properties of the asphalt while leaving the high temperature properties unchanged or minimally changed. The cracking resistance additive corresponds to a compound that is a liquid at both the low temperature performance grade for the asphalt and at mixing and/or storage temperature for the asphalt. Examples of compounds that, in an appropriate molecular weight range, are liquids across this broad temperature range include polyalphaolefins, alkylated naphthalenes, and organic esters. BACKGROUND Asphalt is one of the world's oldest engineering materials, having been used since the beginning of civilization. Asphalt is a strong, versatile and chemical-resistant binding material that adapts itself to a variety of uses. For example, asphalt is used to bind crushed stone and gravel into firm tough surfaces for roads, streets, and airport runways. Asphalt, also known as pitch, can be obtained from either natural deposits, or as a by-product of the petroleum industry. Natural asphalts were extensively used until the early 1900s. The discovery of refining asphalt from crude petroleum and the increasing popularity of the automobile served to greatly expand the asphalt industry. Modern petroleum asphalt has the same durable qualities as naturally occurring asphalt, with the added advantage of being refined to a uniform condition substantially free of organic and mineral impurities. Most of the petroleum asphalt produced today is used for road surfacing. Asphalt is also used for expansion joints and patches on concrete roads, as well as for airport runways, tennis courts, playgrounds, and floors in buildings. Another major use of asphalt is in asphalt shingles and roll-roofing which is typically comprised of felt saturated with asphalt. The asphalt helps to preserve and waterproof the roofing material. Other applications for asphalt include waterproofing tunnels, bridges, dams and reservoirs, rust-proofing and sound-proofing metal pipes and automotive under-bodies; and sound-proofing walls and ceilings. The raw material used in modern asphalt manufacturing is petroleum, which is naturally occurring liquid bitumen. Asphalt is a natural constituent of petroleum, and there are crude oils that are almost entirely asphalt. The crude petroleum is separated into its various fractions through a distillation process. After separation, these fractions are further refined into other products such as 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. Published European Patent Application Publication EP 0885935 describes polymer modified asphalt-diluent binder compositions. The compositions are described as having enhanced low temperature service performance. The compositions include asphalt, a polymer such as ethyl vinyl acetate or styrene-butadiene rubber to provide better rutting resistance, and a diluent oil such as paraffinic oil, motor oil (including used or reprocessed motor oils), or industrial oil to improve low temperature properties. The diluent oil can have a viscosity of from 100 to 250,000 cSt at 40° C. The amount of diluent oil can be from 1-50 wt % of the asphalt composition, with amounts greater than 10% being not uncommon. The amount of polymer can be from 1-6 wt %. The examples show that addition of the diluent oil improves the low temperature properties but also reduces the high temperature performance grade of asphalt compositions.