Heavy product from co-processing of FCC slurry and coal as bitumen modifier

Introduction Co-processing of coal and petroleum resid has been developed to produce liquid fuels, and has gained significant advancements during past several decades. In this work the co-processing process is adopted to produce a bitumen modifier under mild conditions. The modifier is the heavy portion of the co-processing products including un-reacted materials and ash in the coal. Oil is a byproduct. Market price of similar natural occurring modifier is about $500-$750/t in China, which is much higher than the prices of oil and road paving asphalt. Bitumen on road experiences a wide range of static and dynamic stress at varying temperature under different environmental conditions. The lifetime of the road surface is limited due to aging of bitumen in asphalt concrete mix. Addition of non-vulcanized nature and synthetic polymers to improve the properties of paving asphalt are well known and widely used (1, 2). Reclaimed rubber, pulverized waste tire and special naturally occurring asphalt (such as Trinidad lake asphalt) are also used as additives (3, 4). Addition of these materials improves durability of asphalt surface, adhesion of bitumen to aggregate, deformation resistant at great load and freeze resistance. Due to super road performance (4), compared to other additives, Trinidad lake asphalt (TLA) has been used in bitumen modification worldwide. In this study slurry, from fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) unit, and coal is co-processed. The heavy product, named MCSC (modifier from co-processing slurry and coal), is tested for possible usage on bitumen modification. Modification ability and physical and chemical properties of MCSC are presented and compared with TLA.