Bitumen Emulsion Manufacturing Process
Posted by metongmachine on March 3rd, 2019
Bitumen emulsion is mainly composed of the following five main materials: bitumen, water, emulsifier, acid, and modifier. In order to store stability or to satisfy other special uses, a small amount of additives will be added. Metong is the best bitumen emulsion plant manufacturers. Here we provide the professional bitumen emulsion solution.
The manufacturing process of bitumen emulsion can be divided into the following four processes: bitumen preparation, soap preparation, bitumen emulsion, and emulsion storage.
1. Bitumen Preparation
Bitumen is the major component of emulsified bitumen, which account for 50% to 65% of the total mass of emulsified bitumen in general. After spraying or mixing the emulsified bitumen, it is going to demulsify. Then the moisture is evaporated. And what remains on the road surface is the bitumen. Therefore, the preparation of bitumen is critical.
Choosing suitable brand and label of bitumen according to the use of emulsified bitumen. The preparation process of bitumen is mainly the process of heating and keeping the bitumen at the appropriate temperature.
During the process of bitumen preparation, the temperature control is very important. If the temperature of bitumen is too low, which will cause the bitumen to be sticky and the flow to be difficult. Thus it will also cause the emulsification to be difficult. If the temperature is too high, on the one hand, it will cause the bitumen aging. On the other hand, the temperature of the emulsified bitumen will be too high, which will affect the stability of the emulsifier and the quality of the emulsified bitumen.
2. Soap Preparation
According to the different emulsified bitumen, choose suitable type and dosage of emulsifier and additives to prepare emulsifier aqueous solution (soap liquid).
According to the different types of emulsified bitumen equipment and emulsifier, the manufacturing process of emulsifier aqueous solution (soap liquid) is also different. For the automatic continuous emulsified bitumen production equipment, each component of the soap liquid (water, acid, emulsifier, etc.) is automatically completed by the program which is set up by the production equipment itself. As long as the supply of each material is guaranteed, all these processes can be realized; for semi continuous type or intermittent type production equipment, the soap liquid should be manually prepared according to the formula requirements. Some emulsifier water solution needs to add acid to adjust pH value. Some (such as quaternary ammonium salt) do not need. Some solid emulsifiers at room temperature need to be heated and melted before preparing the soap liquid. Because the temperature of soap liquid is generally controlled between 55 and 75 degrees Celsius before entering the emulsification equipment
3. Bitumen Emulsion
Put the rational preparation of bitumen and soap into the emulsifying machine together. After the mechanical action of pressurization, shearing and grinding, the bitumen will become uniform and fine particles. These particles will disperse evenly in the soap liquid and form bitumen emulsion. The appropriate temperature of emulsified bitumen should be around 85 degrees Celsius.
4. Emulsion Storage
The emulsified bitumen comes out of the emulsifying machine and enters the storage tank after cooling. Mixing device shall be installed in a storage tank and be used to mix regularly. Because it can help to slow down the segregation of emulsified bitumen.
