BIT

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10/2008

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The world of today and tomorrow needs more and better roads...Roads have to be inexpensive both in construction and maintenance. In the same sense, they have to proof maximum durability. And finally, used road paving material should be easily and completely reprocessable and reusable.

Bituminous binders of highest quality, as a component of road pavement formulations, meet all the criteria listed above. Furthermore, they perform excellently under extreme climatic conditions and thus can stand heaviest traffic loads. Under these aspects, bitumen production presents itself as an increasingly attractive and profitable sector of downstream business.

Refineries need more than only crude processingToday’s petroleum product marketers are more often confronted with the need to supply top bitumen binder qualities to the construction industry at a reasonable price level. Another business-line of interest is the chemi-cal specialities industry. Frequently an initial bitumen business is the key-opener for new valuable business relations in the field of premium lubricants, fuels, process products etc.

The main effort of any large-scale refinery in the world is to produce million of tons of fast moving products (e.g. gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, feedstocks for the petrochemistry etc.) at the least possible overall costs. Mainly this goal is met by selecting the proper crude mix and using sophisticated refinery technology. This approach generally has the consequence that a straight production of high quality bitumen is impracticable.

The name of the tool to optimally reconcile the market-demand for top-grade bitumen with the upstream cost controlling effort is

biturox®

„Bitumen is a black,sticky and, when hot,

smelling material.“© OMV

Biturox® ParamoPardubice,

Czech Republic

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Pörner: Bitumen Upgrading Specialists

The Pörner Group with a work force of 350 experts in the field of chemical and refinery engineering is special-ised in bitumen technology. Pörner only and alone built the largest number of bitumen processing plants of all dimensions and all over the world. This achievement enabled Pörner Group to accumulate the most compre-hensive expert knowledge in engineering, design, construction, start-up and operation of bitumen plants.

Know How – Three columns of competenceThe Biturox® Process represents the modern and proven solution to produce top bitumen qualities from a great variety of raw materials. The expertise of Pörner staff covers technological, economical and market related aspects. Biturox® plants have been built according to various national quality standards (conventional or performance based - such as SHRP).

• TechnologyThe core piece of the Biturox® Process is the unequalled loop reactor. In this perfect aeration reactor the ther-mo-chemical conversion of selected raw material blends by air-oxygen takes place continuously and under repeatable conditions. The process allows controlling all important process parameters (pressure, tempera-ture, flow rates, residence time etc.) with high accuracy. Biturox® technology proofs that the oxidation process can run both effectively and very softly: The valuable aromatic components are formed and preserved in the reaction mixture and, at the same time, the degradation of organic compounds to coke and the build-up of deposits is minimised. Deriving from the process fundamentals, the features of safe and automated operation as well as low turnaround and maintenance requirements, make the Biturox® process to the most attractive solution for a modern bitumen producer.

• Design, Research and Pilot TestingA satisfying bitumen quality depends on the harmonised balance of its chemical components: saturates, aro-matics, naphthenes, resins, asphaltenes. In more than 30 years and supported by several Hundred of research laboratory and pilot tests on almost any crude type, Pörner, together with its partner OMV, developed methods how to formulate and to process bitumen: All findings were filed in a comprehensive database of know-how. Thus Pörner is able to recommend for almost any feed stock-product combination the most efficient and least costly way to make top-bitumen quality.

• ExperiencePörner knows much about bitumen: A visco-elastic, complex mixture of chemical compounds, difficult to handle. Based on Pörner‘s engineering expertise the most perfect bitumen plants have been realised. Applying all principles of efficiency to blending, heating, cooling of bitumen, to optimise instrumentation and automa-tion, to minimise by-products and emissions, to save and recover energy, to keep maintenance and down-times low. Selecting, the ideally suited equipment, minimising delivery times and making construction fast and easy and to taking care of personnel training, commissioning and start-up.

Pörner designs and realises Bitumen Plants including all infrastructures out of one hand: production units of high availability, easy to operate and designed for a long lifetime.

The world largest Biturox® plant at

Płock, Poland.

Biturox® Pilot Plant in Schwechat, Austria.

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Modern world of bitumen

Roads are connecting people. Bitumen is the most versatile and qualified material for fast construction of long-life and inexpensive roads. The process product industry is another consumer of extra bitumen qualities for roofing felts, construction coating, bitumen emulsions etc.

Biturox® bitumen products contribute to have a „world-wide growing network of perfect roads“ and to have „tight roofs everywhere“.

Changes - Challenges - ChancesAlmost every day crude prices, qualities and availability undergo radical changes. The number of bitumen producers fall off, as smaller, non-profitable producers have to close their books anywhere. New performance oriented bitumen standards (e.g. SHRP) show up frequently. Flexibility and rapid response to new demands are a must in the petroleum industry‘s every day fight for market shares.

The modern refineries generally need to improve the bitumen processing technology, which should fit into their completely automated manufacturing pattern and contribute to the plant’s economic efficiency by higher production flexibility combined with an almost complete independence of the crude type available.

The Biturox® Process offers the solution to produce both multigrade road construction bitumen and high PEN Index bitumen using a continuous, fully automated operation and achieving nearly full independence from feedstock quality and price.

HighlightThe Biturox® Process guarantees the user almost complete independence from crude types, simultaneously allowing to make the best qualities of bitumen.

The name is the Biturox® paradoxon: Better quality from cheaper feedstock components.

Biturox®: High Quality – Efficient – Large Quantities

-50 0 50 100 150

Sti

ffn

ess

Vis

cosi

ty

low temperature limitfor performance

high temperature limitfor performance

maximum viscosity forsatisfactory compaction

minimum viscosity forsatisfactory compaction

TEMPERATURE ° C

High PI Bitumen

Low PI Bitumen

Low PI

High PI

temperature rangefor compaction

(High PI)

temperature rangefor compaction

(Low PI)

© Pörner Ingenieurgesellschaft m.b.H.Biturox® Multigrade Bitumen

Multigrade:combined and impro-ved product charac-terists at high as well as low temperatures.

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Biturox® - Multigrade Bitumen

The designation Multigrade used in this leaflet has the same meaning as in the lubricating oil terminology. Multigrade oils are characterised by a reduced dependence of viscosity with temperature. They are able to do their services over a wider temperature range and are characterised by a high viscosity index. The same system fits to bitumen products: Multigrade can be used in the above sense, viscosity index should be replaced by penetration index - PI.

• The FeedstockHigh molecular weight components of all chemical configuration types, present in most crude oils are suited as feedstock for the Biturox® Process. The only exception is, when in the starting material for bitumen the paraffinic hydrocarbons predominate. In this case the Paratox® process, a two-step Biturox® Process, has to be used. The following products of refining activities are on the list of bitumen raw material:

• Vacuum residue (short residue) VR • Atmospheric residue (long residue) • Pitch from bright stock de-asphalting PDA-P • Heavy vacuum gas oil HVGO • Aromatic extracts from lubricating oil processing EXT • Heavy cycle oils from cracking, visbreaking, coking

• The MethodHigh quality bitumen must show a harmonic distribution of saturates, aromatics, resins and asphaltenes. Biturox® multigrade bitumen is made by the method of composition control.

Several raw material components of different chemical nature are selected and combined to an adequate feed composition. This composition is forwarded to the Biturox® Process where it is integrated by air oxidation under clearly defined and absolutely controlled processing conditions.

• Biturox®-controlled operationThe Biturox® reactor is the perfect tool for such operation: efficient, controllable and safe. The feed composition is proc-essed very gently under elevated pressure and the polarity of the aromatic components is increased minimising the risks of local overheating and coke build-up. Internal reactor cooling allows exact temperature control. The process runs continu-ously resulting in a consistent and homogenous finished pro-duct quality.

ConclusionBitumen as the residue of crude is chemically very complex. Taking advantage from its research database and many hundreds of pilot tests carried out on crudes from all over the world, Pörner has gained the experi-ence to optimise feedstock compositions and to design the process most adequate to make a quality product - even from cheaper feed components.

The Biturox® Process creates and preserves the valuable medium molecular weight aroma-tics in bitumen improving the elastic properties as well as adhesion on the aggregate. The result is a product with tailored chemical structure and optimum quality characteristics: Biturox® Multigrade Bitumen.

© Pörner Ingenieurgesellschaft m.b.H.

ANALYSIS OFFEED COMPONENTS

BY SCANNING

OPTIMIZED FEEDCOMPOSITION BY

PILOT TESTING

PROCESSING UNDERSPECIFIC PRESSUREAND TEMPERATURE

OPTIMIZED FINALPRODUCT MEETING

TARGET SPECIFICATION(MULTIGRADE)

Biturox® Process Scheme

VREXT

HVGOPDA-P

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The Biturox® plant

UtilitiesPlant and instrument air.

Electrical power, steam, water

Feedstock SectionCirculation in the tanks to establish an uniform temperature profile.

Product SectionProduct blending for tailor-made products (optional).

Heat recovery for pre-heating.

Product Storageand Loading

Product storage designed to keep the product homogeneous.

“BituFil” stations for automated loading of product to rail wagon or tank trucks.

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The Biturox® plant

ReactorInner loop type reactor design warrants optimised but also very gentle treat-ment of the medium.

Operation is very safe due to total utilisation of air oxygen.

© Pörner Ingenieurgesellschaft

Pre-heatingPre-heating of feedstock blend to processing tem-perature.

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Research and PilotingBiturox® Research FacilitiesFor more than 30 years the Biturox® Research Centre is an excellently performing service provider to the whole industry, making or using bitumen. Up to date laboratory and semi-technical research and development facilities, analytical methods of newest standard and the backup of the nearby OMV refinery enabled and promoted Pörner‘s efforts to stock-up the most comprehensive expertise on bitumen making world-wide.

Two Biturox® pilot plants are available for practical testing of feedstock or composition of several components in batch or continuous operating mode. The results of pilot tests are used as design basis for Biturox® plants (i.e. reactor rating). Reference samples can be produced from defined feed compositions ready for further applied testing by the client.

All results of basic and applied research work, the experience gathered during design, construction, start-up and routine operation of the numerous Biturox® plants, the information feedback from the Biturox® licensees, the newest findings of the Biturox® Enhancement Technique (chemical upgrading of bitumen) and, obviously, the performance reports on application of Biturox® bitumen have been collected in a most comprehensive database.

TargetMany bitumen research institutes over-emphasise the significance of crude oil provenance and compositional classification, simultaneously neglecting to notice and to review the chances, which lie in the thermo-chemical modification of an almost unlimited palette of crude oil derived feedstock.

The main objective of the Biturox® Research Facilities is therefore, to find methods how to optimise the chemi-cal composition of bitumen, namely reaction conditions, which promote the synthesis of polar, aromatic com-pounds and suppress the decomposition of asphaltenes to coke.

But finally the goals of the said efforts have to be to satisfy the market demand for bitumen qualities with outstanding and superior application characteristics at a reasonable low price.

Desired characteristicsFatique resistance

Ability for emulsion

Stiffness

Good short- and long-term aging properties

Compatibility with polymers

Problems to solveChemical composition

Life time

Cracking at low temperatures

Rutting at high temperatures

Optimise adhesive properties

Stability

ResultThe Biturox® technology is a representative example how applied and scientific research can be conducted effectively, rewarding and to the benefit of many people, driving on good roads, living in comfortable accom-modations and both under cost-saving conditions.

Biturox® MBW Mitteldeutsches Bitumenwerk

Granschütz, Germany

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Project realization

The Pörner Group is, as documented in this brochure, the most experienced bitumen plant designer and con-structor worldwide. The volume of data in the electronic files is the basis for an expedient and cost-saving project realisation in every single step. The table below gives a general overview of the scope and steps of the realisation of a “turn-key grass-root” project:

• Preliminary studies, information & data collection • Feasibility study • Evaluation of raw material, laboratory & pilot-plant testing • Evaluation of the technical, commercial, legal and ecological conditions • Presentation of the recommendations to and acknowledgement by the client • Action planning, scheduling, project cost assessment • Chemical, mechanical, civil basic and detail engineering • Approval of the final project documents by the client and by the supervising authorities • Procurement & logistics of equipment and material • Engagement and supervision of contractors • General on-site supervision of the construction work • Project progress reporting and documentation • Commission of the completed plant • Presentation of the plant and operation manuals to the client • Test run & staff training • Project post-completion auditing and services

Pörner has learned a lot about bitumen in more than 35 years.Make advantage not to repeat any mistake from which Pörner has learned in three decades of plant construction!

With Pörner the world of Biturox® bitumen is yours.

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Biturox® ESHA, Amsterdam, Nether-

lands

From Lab Tests to Turn Key Realization

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The Proof: Biturox® References

Fact SheetConfiguration 1 Reactor, Feedstock hea-

ting/Product cooling through spiral heat exchanger and hot oil circulation, Scrubber and Offgas-Incinerator

Capacity 192 tons/dayImage

Fact SheetConfiguration 1 Reactor, Feedstock hea-

ting/cooling through direct heat exchange, Scrubber, Offgas-Incinerator

Capacity 1,080 tons/dayImage

Fact SheetConfiguration 1 Reactor, Feedstock

heating/Product cooling through direct heat exchange, Knock Out Drum, Offgas-Incinerator, Pipeline, truck-, drum- and bag filling

Capacity 400 tons/dayImage

Biturox® OMVSchwechat, Austria

Project Client Operator Location Country Year

Biturox® Wörth Mobil Oil Wörth Mobil Oil Wörth Wörth Germany 1978

Biturox® Esfahan NIOC NIOC Esfahan Iran 1988

Biturox® Kaoshiung CPC CPC Kaohsiung Taiwan 1990

Biturox® Bandar Abbas NIOC NIOC Bandar Abbas Iran 1991

Biturox® Adelaide Mobil Oil Australia Mobil Adelaide Australia 1992

Biturox® Plock PKN Orlen Orlen Asfalt Plock Poland 1994

Biturox® Madras CPCL CPCL Refinery Chennai India 1994

Bitukomb Lisichansk Lisichanskij NPZ Lisichanskij NPZ Lisichansk Ukraine 1995

Biturox® Mangalore Toyo Engineering MRPL Mangalore India 1995

Biturox® Baku AzerneftyagAzerneftyag Refinery

Baku Azerbaidjan 1995

Biturox® Krasnovodsk NEKRA NEKRA Turkmenbashi Turkmenistan 1995

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Project Client Operator Location Country Year

Biturox® Rayong LGEN IPRC PCL Rayong Thailand 1996

Biturox® Visakh HPCL Visakh Refinery Visakhapatnam India 1998

Biturox® Amsterdam ESHA ESHA Amsterdam Netherlands 1998

Biturox® Myanmar Fritz Werner MPE Yangon Myanmar 1999

Biturox® Chelyabinsk Dept. Car Roads Dept. Car Roads Chelyabinsk Russia 2000

Biturox® Bharat BPCL Mumbai Refinery Mumbai India 2000

Biturox® Jarbit Jarbit Jarbit Jaroslavl Russia 2002

Biturox® Taiwan Simosa Oil Corp. Simosa Oil Corp. Mailiao Taiwan 2002

Biturox® Gujarat IOCL Gujarat Refinery Vadodara India 2002

Biturox® Lavéra Innovene Innovene Lavéra France 2004

Biturox® Gdansk Grupa Lotos Lotos Asfalt Gdansk Poland 2005

Biturox® Schwechat OMV OMV Schwechat Austria 2006

Biturox® Nizhnekamsk TAIF-NK TAIF-NK Nizhnekamsk Russia 2007

Biturox® Cochin BPCL Kochi Refinery Cochin India 2008

The Proof: Biturox® References

Fact SheetScope of services

Basic design, detailed engineering, procurement and supply of the process unit, site su pervision, start-up assistance, training and documentation

Capacity 1,032 tons/dayImage

Fact SheetScope of services

Basic design for the process and off-plot units, detailed engineering, procurement and supply of the plant equipment and material, site supervision, start-up, training and documentation (general contracting)

Capacity 480 tons/dayImage

Biturox® plantJaroslavl, Russia

Pörner Ingenieurgesellschaft mbHHamburgerstraße 9A-1050 ViennaAustriaTel.: +43 (1) 589 90-0Fax: +43 (1) 589 90-99Email: vienna@poerner.atWeb: www.poerner.at www.biturox.com

W W W . B I T U R O X . C O M