Bitumen-based fuel is fuel specifically developed for industrial use. Bitumen is obtained by fractional distillation

Fractional distillation

Fractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts, or fractions, such as in separating chemical compounds by their boiling point by heating them to a temperature at which several fractions of the compound will evaporate. It is a special type of distillation...

 of crude oil. Bitumen being the heaviest and the fraction with the highest boiling point, appears as the bottom-most fraction.

Description

Bitumen is a category of organically-based liquids that are highly viscous, black, and sticky. They are wholly soluble in carbon disulfide

Carbon disulfide

Carbon disulfide is a colorless volatile liquid with the formula CS2. The compound is used frequently as a building block in organic chemistry as well as an industrial and chemical non-polar solvent...

. The world's largest deposit of bitumen is in the Orinoco Belt

Orinoco Belt

The Orinoco Belt is a territory which occupies the southern strip of the eastern Orinoco River Basin in Venezuela. Its local Spanish name is Faja Petrolífera del Orinoco ....

 in Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

.

Use

Raw bitumen has an extremely high viscosity

Viscosity

Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid which is being deformed by either shear or tensile stress. In everyday terms , viscosity is "thickness" or "internal friction". Thus, water is "thin", having a lower viscosity, while honey is "thick", having a higher viscosity...

, between 8 to 10 API degrees, at ambient temperatures, rendering it unusable for use in electrical power stations. Bitumen can be modified by mixing it with about fresh water and a small amount of phenol

Phenol

Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, phenic acid, is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5OH. It is a white crystalline solid. The molecule consists of a phenyl , bonded to a hydroxyl group. It is produced on a large scale as a precursor to many materials and useful compounds...

-based surfactant

Surfactant

Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension of a liquid, the interfacial tension between two liquids, or that between a liquid and a solid...

. The resulting mixture has properties similar to conventional fuel oil.

A newer version of bitumen-based fuel has replaced the original version with an alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

-based surfactant, making it easier to transport the fuel and eliminating the health concerns associated with the phenol group of surfactants.

Bitumen-based fuel is currently used as a commercial boiler fuel in power plants in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, and China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

). Commonly available air pollutant control technology can limit emissions from Orimulsion to levels considered Best Available Control Technology

Best Available Control Technology

Best available control technology is a pollution control standard mandated by the United States Clean Air Act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determines what air pollution control technology will be used to control a specific pollutant to a specified limit...

, as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency

United States Environmental Protection Agency

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...

.

See also

• Bitumen
• Bituminous rocks
  Bituminous rocks
  Organic-rich sedimentary rocks are a specific type of sedimentary rock that contains significant amounts of organic carbon. The most common types include coal, lignite, oil shale, or black shale...
  
  
• Bituminous coal
  Bituminous coal
  Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...