COMPOSITION OF ASPHALT BASED ON GENERIC FRACTIONATION USING SOLVENT DEASPHALTENING ELUTION-ADSORPTION CHROMATOGRAPHY AND DENSIMETRIC CHARACTERIZATION

This paper describes a convenient method for determining asphalt composition based on fractionation into four generic components. The method involves solvent deasphaltening for recovery of asphaltenes, followed by elution-adsorption chromatography to yield saturates, naphthene-aromatics, and polar-aromatics. The densimetric method was then applied to define the average chemical structures present. Examples are presented to show the effect of distillation and crude source, noting that molecular weight as well as chemical structure varies appreciably. This suggests that these two characteristics should be considered along with the proportion of each component when making asphalt composition analyses. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.