Energy Sources Part A-recovery Utilization and Environmental Effects, Vol.39, No.3, 264-270, 2017
Comparative evaluation of the aging performance of hard asphalts using physical chemical relationships
Two 30(#) asphalts were prepared by solvent deasphalting of Oman residue and Saudi residue and their properties were evaluated. Results indicated that Oman 30(#) asphalt exhibited excellent high-and low-temperature performance and aging resistance performance compared to Saudi 30(#) asphalt. Based on n-pentane asphaltene content, the aging process of two 30(#) asphalts followed a first-order kinetic reaction equation. Oman 30(#) asphalt had higher activation energy and a lower reaction rate constant than Saudi 30(#) asphalt. Changes of compositions and molecular weight distribution of asphalts in aging process revealed that asphalt aging reaction mainly included dissociation and condensation. There existed a significant difference in compositions and chemical structures of 30(#) asphalts; high aromatic content, high asphalt colloidal stable index, and short alkyl side chains were beneficial to improvement of aging resistance performance.
Keywords:Aging kinetics;aging resistance performance;chemical structures;solvent deasphalting;30(#) hard asphalt