bitumen, Iran bitumen, bitumen exporter, bitumen producer, bitumen supplier, Iran bitumen exporter, bitumen in middle east, bitumen middle east, Iran bitumen producer, bitumen manufacture, bitumen trade

Iran Bitumen

Iran Bitumen

Industrial Bitumen is a dark, petroleum residue modified by the oxidation process. Its consistency ranges from highly viscous to solid. Industrial Bitumen is a safe material which has multiple uses in industry and a wide range of applications and has Waterproofing properties, Plasticity, Adhesion and resistance towards acid and alkalis. the Bitumen applications are mentioned below:

  • In building floors: damp-proofing and waterproofing; acid-alkali resistant flooring, conductive flooring; sparkles flooring.
  • In building roofing: manufacture of roofing felts, adhesives, primers, damp-proof coating compositions, liquid roof coatings, plastic cement and hot carriage roofing compounds.
  • Hydro projects: canal lining, embankment, hydraulic structure, dam lining protection, and sand stabilization.
  • Roads: construction and maintenance.
  • Industrial use: lamination, manufacture of caulking compounds, joint fillers, rubber extenders, battery sealing compounds, cable filling compounds etc.

Usually, Bitumen is used in the construction of asphalt roads and bituminous membrane products. Bitumen is used to build highways, motorways and rail networks. As a result of having great water-proofing properties, Bitumen is used for making roofing products along with a range of other household and industrial applications, from emulsion paints to sound-proofing. Bitumen has been known as an effect on both high-speed railway tracks and heavy load railway tracks. in the Marine construction industry Bitumen is used for hydraulic applications like canal lining, underwater tunnels, river bank protection, dam construction, and sea defenses. In addition, numerous industrial applications like roofing felt material, printing inks, packaging paper, linoleum, electrical cable / Junction box insulation, mastic for roofing of terraces, and duplex paper manufacture. Limited of Bitumen Suppliers can meet all your individual requirements.

  • Penetration Grade Bitumen is used in road construction, surfacing, and other industrial applications. The Penetration Test calculated the hardness of Bitumen by measuring the depth (in tenths of a mm) to which a standard and loaded needle will vertically penetrate in 5 seconds, a sample of Bitumen maintained at a temperature of 25°C. consequently, the softer the Bitumen, the greater will be its number of penetration units. The best suggestion is grades of Penetration Bitumen including Bitumen 80/100, Bitumen 85/100, Bitumen 35/50, Bitumen 40/50, Bitumen 50/70, Bitumen 60/70 and Bitumen 160/220. Equivalent to BS EN12591and BS EN 13924.
  • Cutback Bitumen is a liquid which is dissolved in a solvent and solvents contains naphtha, gasoline, kerosene and white spirit. as a result of adding controlled amounts of petroleum distillates such as the solvents described before, Bitumen is cutback. This leads to decrease the Bitumen viscosity temporarily thus it will penetrate pavements effectively. This would allow spraying at temperatures that are very cold for having great sprayed sealing with neat Bitumen. The materials used to cutback Bitumen will evaporate after application leaving the remaining material similar in hardness to the original Bitumen. of using of Cutback Bitumen instead of Bitumen emulsions has many advantages which is a much higher residual Bitumen percent, usually more than 80% compared with 40% – 65% for Bitumen emulsions. Normally, Cutback Bitumen is used in road construction and road maintenance applications. Cutbacks are including two different types, Rapid Curing (RC) and Medium Curing (MC) which they using depends on the solvent. They are defined by a number which the minimum kinematic viscosity (fluidity) of the Cutback Bitumen. We offer a variety of Rapid Curing Bitumen including RC 30, RC 70, RC 250, RC 800 and RC 3000 which are all used in road construction and treatments of pavement. Our range of Medium Curing Bitumen includes MC 30 containing 50% Bitumen which is commonly used as a Prime Coating, MC 70 which contains 55% Bitumen is used for Prime Coating and Maintenance Mixing and MC 3000 which contains 80% Bitumen is used for Surface Dressing and Semi Grouting (Penetration Macadam). The priming process involves applying a low viscosity binder to a prepared but usually unbound aggregate base. It is intended to be absorbed by the top layers of the base and provide a surface that is more easily wetted by a following bituminous covering. The primer will be able to carry traffic for a short time and manage dust. Most primers are applied at rates between 0.5 L/m² and 1.4 L/m². Cutback Bitumen which is suitable for priming can be used for Tack-coating as well. It would be applied to an underlying surface to aid with the adhesion of the following asphalt layer. usually, tack coats are applied at rates between 0.2 L/m² and 0.4 L/m². for primer sealing, Cutback Bitumen is the best choice and can be used in the manufacture of pre-mixed asphalt and it is used in patch repairs. Cutback Bitumen can be used extensively in sprayed sealing applications, particularly in cooler weather where they provide improved initial stone retention because of the lower viscosity. basically, a single application of cutback Bitumen is sprayed on the primed pavement onto which aggregate is laid.
  • Oxidized (Blown) Bitumen is obtained by either a staggered or a continuous blowing process. The heated Penetration Grade Bitumen under controlled environment is blown with air which controls the oil content in the Bitumen while it is oxidized. It would be produced in different grade depends on the applications that are distinguished by two numbers to show the midpoints of their softening point and penetration ranges. We highly suggested different grades of Blown Bitumen namely R10/20, R85/25, R95/25, R85/40, R90/40, R110/30, R90/15 and R115/15. Oxidized Grade Bitumen is widely used as an anti-slip layer compound in the piling industry, for the producing of sound dampening felts, for the manufacture of roofing felts, for the manufacture of under carriage sealant in the automobile industry, electric cable joint protection, joint filling compound, sealant compound and a multitude of industrial applications. By adding Fuel oil to the process it will increase the penetration if required for custom applications and requirements.
  • Bitumen Emulsion is including three basic ingredients namely Bitumen, an emulsifying agent and water. Based on the different specifications it may contain other additives such as coating improvers, stabilizers, anti-strips or break control agents. Due to the not mixing of asphalt and water, except under carefully controlled conditions which are using highly specialized equipment and chemical additives.

What is Bitumen?

Bitumen is one of the material’s engineering that produced via crude oil distillation during petroleum refining and exists in many categories. Bitumen is dark viscous liquids or semi-solids that are non-volatile at ambient temperatures and soften gradually when heated. “Asphalt” is the most suitable way that used for a mixture of small stones, sand, filler, and Bitumen (~5%), which is used as a road-paving material. Bitumen emissions are defined as the complex mixture of aerosols, vapors, and gases from heated Bitumen and products containing Bitumen. Usually “Bitumen fume is used in reference to total emissions, Bitumen fume comes from the aerosolized fraction of total emissions (i.e. solid particulate matter, condensed vapor, and liquid Bitumen droplets). basically, “emissions of Bitumen is the best choice for referring to the whole content of Bitumen in the air.

Bitumen in Different grade specifications, due to the physical properties, would be able to achieve for specific applications either directly via refining or by blending. For instance, the ordinary product is often referred to as “straight-run” Bitumen, in addition, usually, it is used in road-paving applications. as a result of blowing air through it at elevated temperatures to produce “oxidized” Bitumen, this basic product would be able to further process, which is the most useful products for using in roofing applications. As a result of using these two products most commonly in industry, it will have defined four additional classes that are produced to achieve specific physical characteristics by production process modification.

Bitumen is a completely different product compared with coal-derived products namely, coal tars or coal-tar pitches. While Bitumen is produced from petroleum, coal-tar products are obtained from the high-temperature carbonization of bituminous coals (> 1000 °C) and are by-products of gas and coke production. Coal-tar products have much higher concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) compared with Bitumen, basically range of between three- to seven-ring size. In contrast, Bitumen is containing higher concentrations of paraffinic and naphthenic hydrocarbons and their derivatives, whose large size and viscosity result in limited solubility.

Industrial grade Bitumen

blown Bitumen is another name for Industrial Grade Bitumen. As a result of blowing air into hot Bitumen at high temperatures (normally beyond 180°C), this product is supplying.

As a result of blowing hot air into Bitumen at high temperatures, changing structural is obtained from Bitumen. During this process Esters are formed and these esters link up two different molecules and higher molecular weight material increases drastically. In the process, the asphaltene content is increased that leads to having higher softening points and very low penetration number. Industrial grade Bitumen is used in industrial applications and in waterproofing, targeting etc.


The cutback is defined as a Free-flowing liquid at normal temperatures which is producing by fluxing Bitumen with suitable solvents. As a result of adding kerosene or any other solvent, The Bitumen viscosity is reduced. Cutback has been used in tack coat applications.

Bitumen Emulsion
Bitumen emulsion can be illustrated as a free-flowing liquid at ambient temperatures. Bitumen emulsion is a stable dispersion of fine globules of Bitumen in the continuous water phase. Dispersion is supplying by processing Bitumen and water under controlled conditions through a colloidal mill together with selected additives. Bitumen Emulsions includes two types cationic and anionic. Normally, Anionic Bitumen emulsions are not suitable for use in road construction as the generally siliceous aggregate is used in road construction. Anionic Bitumen emulsions do not give good performance with siliceous whereas cationic Bitumen emulsions give good performance with these aggregates. consequently, cationic Bitumen emulsions are more popular compared with anionic Bitumen emulsions.


Modified Bitumen

Modified Bitumen is including Bitumen with additives. These additives help in further enhancing the properties of bituminous pavements. Pavements constructed with Modified Bitumen last longer which automatically translates into decrease overlays. combination of Pavements constructed and Modified Bitumen is more economical if the overall lifecycle cost of the pavement is taken into consideration. The advantages of using modified Bitumen are as follows:

  • Lower susceptibility to daily and seasonal temperature variations
  • Higher resistance to deformation at high pavement temperature
  • Better age resistance properties
  • Higher fatigue life for mixes
  • Better adhesion between aggregates and binder
  • Prevention of cracking and reflective cracking


Bitumen Production

Bitumen is primarily obtained via vacuum distillation of carefully selected crude oil or crude oil blends. For the simplest form of Bitumen manufacturing divided to the lighter, low boiling point fractions from crude oil resulting in a product with high boiling point, high molecular weight with very low volatility. Bitumen ‘s Properties and quality completely depend on the crude oil(s) used in its manufacture. In addition, Bitumen would be able to have further processed for altering its physical properties in order to meet certain specifications.

several manufacturing methods are available to gain Bitumen due to the crude source(s) and processing capabilities available within a refinery. Usually, a combination of processes is choosing.

Crude oil analysis and selection

Petroleum residuum from crude oils distillation is the starting materials for Bitumen production. consequently, the Bitumen’s properties depend on the crude oil properties which the Bitumen is produced. The crude oil (blends of crude oils) comes from lots of sources, some of them would be assumed naturally occurring and those extracted from oil sands or shale. In conclusion, heavy (Specific Gravity > 0.9) crude oils are used for producing Bitumen of the required quality. These categories of crude oils tend to contain higher Sulphur contents (>1 %m).

as a fraction of suitable crude oils, Bitumen has ranged between 20–50 %m. nowadays, integrated refineries a common practice is to blend multiple crude oils for supplying quality Bitumen that faced the specifications of engineering. Thus, the compositional analysis of Bitumen obtained via given refinery will not vary greatly.


Oil Sand, Oil Shale, and Shale Oil: There are vast reserves of oil sand and oil shale deposits and, as it becomes economically more attractive to extract the hydrocarbons from these deposits, the production continues to increase sharply.

Oil sands are including a combination of sand, water, clay, and heavy hydrocarbon deposits. These oil sands are obtained either via open cast mining or by in-situ heating in the ground and brought to the surface once it is able to flow. Next, It is processed at the source to omitted the non-hydrocarbon impurities, and then can either be hydrotreated to obtained lighter synthetic crude or blended with a light condensate to make what is known as a dilbit” crude oil. This would help to transport them easily to a refinery for processing distillation. Oil shale is defined as a fine-grained rock including a compound known as kerogen. This substance is based for the formation of crude oil and gas and basically has not been buried enough deep and hot to gain conventional crude oil and gas. It is extracted in similar ways to oil sand, with converting to hydrocarbons via heating to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. It would be transported to refineries for conventional processing. another name of Shale oil is tight oil. Tight oil is normally light, sweet’ crude oil which is not suitable for the production of Bitumen as it lacks the high molecular weight components especially for Bitumen. considering that, Bitumen in Iran isn't produced from these types of oils and it would be produced from the distillation refining process.

Viscosity grade Bitumen

The new method of grading the product has now rested on the viscosity of the Bitumen (at 60°C and 135°C). The new grades have thus evolved with nomenclature:


Minimum of Absolute Viscosity, Poise at 60°C

Approximate penetration grade

   VG 10



   VG 20



   VG 30



VG 40



Table 2. Viscosity grade Bitumen

Paving grade Bitumen is supplying by refineries and conforms to IS 73.


Tests on Bitumen
There are different tests to assess the bituminous properties materials. That is for the evaluation of different materials properties.


   Type of test

Test Method

   Penetration Test

IS: 1203-1978

   Ductility test

IS: 1208-1978

   Softening Point test

IS: 1205-1978

   Specific gravity test

IS: 1202-1978

   Viscosity test

IS: 1206-1978

   Flash and Fire Point test

IS: 1209-1978

   Float Test

IS: 1210-1978

   Determination of water content

IS: 1211-1978

   Determination of Loss on heating

IS: 1212-1978

Table 3. Tests for Bitumen with IS codes

Different Grades of Bitumen

Bitumen or bituminous binder is including different types:

Penetration Grade

Bitumen 80/100: The characteristics of this type shows that of S 90 grade of IS-73-1992. This is the softest of all types. This type is used for low volume roads in many projects.

Bitumen 60/70: it is harder than 80/100 and can withstand higher traffic loads.  

Bitumen 30/40: This is the hardest grade compared with the others and can withstand very heavy traffic loads.  

Bitumen Usages



Copyright © ATC Petroil