NEW HEATING CONCEPT AND TRANSPORT NETWORK FOR BITUMEN Since 1983, CONT-ASPHALT Ltd, specializing in the distribution of bitumen in heatable 20 ft containers, has delivered worldwide – particularly in its CA™ container – more than 5'500'000 tons. Taking into account the fact that the bitumen is a bad heat transmitter product, and considering the temperature as a key point influencing the properties of the bitumen, especially regarding the heat of the bitumen, our company has developed a new concept for the heating from outside of the mass of the product, consisting in an heatable ISO registered, maritime type 20 feet container (volume 23 m³). The process is using a hot airflow, originating from two removable burners, in a double bottom,running on gas oil or on kerosene, in order to raise the product temperature up to 130° C. To do this with our CA™ type, about 10 hours are required, depending on local climatic conditions. On request of our customers, the road contractors, from 1996, we have developed a new modern container – our THB® type (Tank Hot Bitumen) at a much enhance cost effectiveness to the end-user, as we are raising the temperature of the bitumen within 8 hours. The originality of our system, duly patented worldwide, is that we are heating the bitumen from outside of the mass of the product. Owing to our heating system, bitumen doesn't incur any change of standard, both mechanical as well as organical properties. This point is very important as we know that the performance of bitumen-bound mixes in practice is significantly influenced by the rheological properties of the bitumen and to a lesser extent the chemical constitution of the bitumen. The latter is particularly important at the road surface because the constitution of the bitumen influences the rate of oxidation and thereby how rapidly the bitumen is eroded by traffic. These factors are, in turn, influenced by changes due to the effect of air, temperature and water, on the bitumen. They are, of course, many other factors influencing behavior, including the nature of aggregates, mix composition, bitumen content (i.e. bitumen film thickness), degree of compaction, etc, all of which influence long term durability. You may be Bitumen Producer, Trader, Road Contractor, transporters, THB® is the solution to all your business woes. |
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