Bitumen

Paver Blocks or Bitumen

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Thu, 31 May 2012 02:53:00 +0000

MUMBAI: Flouting recommendations of its own committees seems to have become a common practice for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Despite the Standing Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) advising against the use of paver blocks on major roads (more than 30-ft wide), the BMC, in a mad rush to complete road work before the monsoon arrives, is doing just the opposite: It has been laying major roads with paver blocks instead of asphalt or cement concrete.

TOI visited three wards—S (Bhandup), N (Vikhroli) and T (Mulund)—on Wednesday and found that the STAC's recommendation on use of paver blocks is being blatantly violated.

While the STAC had made it clear that paver blocks should only be used for side strips, footpaths, traffic junctions and narrow roads, the BMC is using the blocks on roads as wide as 60 feet in the three wards. Opposite Vijayvihar society in Powai, the civic body has used paver blocks on a 65-m stretch. At Hari Om Nagar in Mulund (E), a 45-ft wide road has been relaid using paver blocks for over a kilometre.

STAC chairman M V Merani said, "We have repeatedly told the civic body not to use paver blocks on wide roads. They are only meant for side strips, footpaths and one-lane roads which are narrow. Paver blocks are to be used where bitumen and cement concrete cannot be. We had specified two designs for laying of paver blocks, but contractors do not always follow them."

Civic officials said the process of laying paver blocks is easy and less time consuming. "Many times, the civic body uses paver blocks instead of asphalt or cement concrete just to meet the deadline. There have been instances when the BMC has realized only after starting the work that asphalting or concretizing of the road would not be possible," said an assistant engineer. Additional municipal commissioner Rajiv Jalota said, "Concretization or asphalting of roads has been stopped in some wards due to the presence of underground utilities." Interestingly, it is the responsibility of the civic roads department to get the clearances from all utilities before starting road work.

Contractors prefer using paver blocks as it is cheaper than concretizing the road.

Source- Times of India

Bitumen Export and Greenhouse Gas Regulation

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Wed, 30 May 2012 08:24:00 +0000

During the 2008 campaign, Stephen Harper promised to ban the export of raw bitumen to countries with weaker emissions targets.

“We will not permit the export of bitumen to any country that does not have the same greenhouse gas regulations that we are imposing,” Harper said in Calgary, where he was campaigning for re-election in an Oct. 14 vote.

Mr. Harper said the federal government had the constitutional authority to enforce a ban. And the Prime Minister acknowledged that such a ban could impact exports to Asia.

Harper’s promise is likely to have no impact on bitumen exports to the United States, said Environment Minister John Baird, but could affect the construction of a major pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific coast to feed the Asian market. Questioned on whether the emission target proposal would have an impact on future bitumen exports to Asian countries, Harper replied: “Well, it could. It absolutely could.”

Nearly four years later, the Harper government is quite keen to sell this country’s oil to Asia. But for all the discussion in recent months about resource development and oil exports, Mr. Harper’s pledge has gone unmentioned. What happened to promised ban? I sent the following query to the Prime Minister’s Office.

During the 2008 campaign, the Prime Minister promised to ban the export of raw bitumen to countries with environmental standards that were more lenient than Canada’s. Does the Prime Minister still intend to fulfill that promise? And, if so, how does he square it with the government’s desire to export oil to countries like China and India?

That question was forwarded to the office of Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver. Mr. Oliver’s spokeswoman sent along the following statement by way of response (emphasis mine).

“Our government is focused on jobs creation, economic growth and long-term prosperity. Our plan for Responsible Resource Development will help unleash enormous economic growth, by streamlining environmental assessments while maintaining the highest possible standard for protecting the environment. In the next 10 years, more than 500 projects representing over $500 billion in new investments are proposed across Canada. We currently are continuing to review this policy.”

That roughly matches what Minister Oliver’s office said more than eight months ago when Postmedia checked on the Prime Minister’s promise.

“Our 2008 platform commitment remains in effect. We continue to review on an ongoing basis,” said Julie Di Mambro, press secretary to Oliver.

At that time, a “person familiar with Prime Minister Harper’s surprise announcement” said the promise was to be “buried and never seen again.”

by Aaron Wherry

TAR SANDS

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Tue, 29 May 2012 08:11:00 +0000

About Tar Sands

Basic information on tar sands, tar sands resources, and recovery of oil from tar sands.

What Are Tar Sands?


	Tar Sands

Tar sands (also referred to as oil sands) are a combination of clay, sand, water, and bitumen, a heavy black viscous oil. Tar sands can be mined and processed to extract the oil-rich bitumen, which is then refined into oil. The bitumen in tar sands cannot be pumped from the ground in its natural state; instead tar sand deposits are mined, usually using strip mining or open pit techniques, or the oil is extracted by underground heating with additional upgrading.
See the Photos page for additional photos of tar sand and tar sand mining.


	Tar Sands Open Pit Mining, Alberta, Canada

Tar sands are mined and processed to generate oil similar to oil pumped from conventional oil wells, but extracting oil from tar sands is more complex than conventional oil recovery. Oil sands recovery processes include extraction and separation systems to separate the bitumen from the clay, sand, and water that make up the tar sands. Bitumen also requires additional upgrading before it can be refined. Because it is so viscous (thick), it also requires dilution with lighter hydrocarbons to make it transportable by pipelines.

Tar Sands Resources


	Primary Tar Sands Resources in Utah

Much of the world's oil (more than 2 trillion barrels) is in the form of tar sands, although it is not all recoverable. While tar sands are found in many places worldwide, the largest deposits in the world are found in Canada (Alberta) and Venezuela, and much of the rest is found in various countries in the Middle East. In the United States, tar sands resources are primarily concentrated in Eastern Utah, mostly on public lands. The in-place tar sands oil resources in Utah are estimated at 12 to 19 billion barrels.

See the Maps page for additional maps of tar sands resources in Utah.

Utah Tar Sands Estimated In-Place Resources

Deposit	Known (MMB)	Additional Projected (MMB)
Sunnyside	4,400	1,700
Tar Sand Triangle	2,500	420
PR Spring	2,140	2,230
Asphalt Ridge	830	310
Circle Cliffs	590	1,140
Other	1,410	1,530
Total:	11,870	7,330

The Tar Sands Industry

Currently, oil is not produced from tar sands on a significant commercial level in the United States; in fact, only Canada has a large-scale commercial tar sands industry, though a small amount of oil from tar sands is produced commercially in Venezuela. The Canadian tar sands industry is centered in Alberta, and more than one million barrels of synthetic oil are produced from these resources per day. Currently, tar sands represent about 40% of Canada's oil production, and output is expanding rapidly. Approximately 20% of U.S. crude oil and products come from Canada, and a substantial portion of this amount comes from tar sands. The tar sands are extracted both by mining and in situ recovery methods (see below). Canadian tar sands are different than U.S. tar sands in that Canadian tar sands are water wetted, while U.S tar sands are hydrocarbon wetted. As a result of this difference, extraction techniques for the tar sands in Utah will be different than for those in Alberta.

Recently, prices for crude oil have again risen to levels that may make tar-sands-based oil production in the United States commercially attractive, and both government and industry are interested in pursuing the development of tar sands oil resources as an alternative to conventional oil.

Tar Sands Extraction and Processing


	Tar Sands Open Pit Mining, Alberta, Canada

Tar sands deposits near the surface can be recovered by open pit mining techniques. New methods introduced in the 1990s considerably improved the efficiency of tar sands mining, thus reducing the cost. These systems use large hydraulic and electrically powered shovels to dig up tar sands and load them into enormous trucks that can carry up to 320 tons of tar sands per load.


	Tar Sands Extraction Separation Cell, Alberta, Canada

After mining, the tar sands are transported to an extraction plant, where a hot water process separates the bitumen from sand, water, and minerals. The separation takes place in separation cells. Hot water is added to the sand, and the resulting slurry is piped to the extraction plant where it is agitated. The combination of hot water and agitation releases bitumen from the oil sand, and causes tiny air bubbles to attach to the bitumen droplets, that float to the top of the separation vessel, where the bitumen can be skimmed off. Further processing removes residual water and solids. The bitumen is then transported and eventually upgraded into synthetic crude oil.

See the Photos page for additional photos of tar sand processing facilities.

About two tons of tar sands are required to produce one barrel of oil. Roughly 75% of the bitumen can be recovered from sand. After oil extraction, the spent sand and other materials are then returned to the mine, which is eventually reclaimed.

In-situ production methods are used on bitumen deposits buried too deep for mining to be economically recovered. These techniques include steam injection, solvent injection, and firefloods, in which oxygen is injected and part of the resource burned to provide heat. So far steam injection has been the favoured method. Some of these extraction methods require large amounts of both water and energy (for heating and pumping).

Both mining and processing of tar sands involve a variety of environmental impacts, such as global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, disturbance of mined land; impacts on wildlife and air and water quality. The development of a commercial tar sands industry in the U.S. would also have significant social and economic impacts on local communities. Of special concern in the relatively arid western United States is the large amount of water required for tar sands processing; currently, tar sands extraction and processing require several barrels of water for each barrel of oil produced, though some of the water can be recycled.

For More Information

Additional information on tar sands is available through the Web. Visit the Links page to access sites with more information.

Source

Bitumen Tanker Overturns

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Mon, 28 May 2012 06:36:00 +0000

VADODARA: A tanker carrying bitumen turned over near Godhra. Hot bitumen was spilled on the road as a consequence and the road was closed for traffic late on Friday afternoon.

The tanker had filled bitumen from Vadodara and was on its way to Godhra. It was to be emptied at a road construction site near the town. The impact of the accident led to damage to the container filled with bitumen that spilled on the road.

The traffic remained closed for about 90 minutes after the accident at 4p.m.

The traffic on Godhra bypass had to be diverted through the town due to the accident. It began after the bitumen cooled down.

Source- The Times of India

Zambia Reopens Bitumen Plant

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:21:00 +0000

THE government says the reopening of the bitumen production plant at Indeni Refinery in Ndola will help reduce the cost of road construction in the country.

Indeni used to produce bitumen as a by-product of crude oil processing but the plant was closed down after the machinery and equipment became obsolete.

In an interview yesterday, energy permanent secretary George Zulu said the government was spending US$20 million to refurbish the plant whose commissioning is set for this October.

"It will have a capacity of 400 tonnes per day and this will be sufficient for local requirements and we shall be able to export some quantities. We are happy because the reopening of the plant will help reduce the cost of road construction since bitumen is a major component," said Zulu.

"The bitumen plant will have drum filling facilities and now the residue of crude oil will be put to good use as compared to the current situation where everything is lost after refining crude oil."

Last week, Sable Transport and Contractors managing director Iqbal Alloo observed that non-availability of bitumen and heavy rainfall in some parts of the country affected progress on most road works being undertaken by the company.

by Kabanda Chulu
Source - Zambianews

NewYork Aspahlt Turning Green

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:06:00 +0000

Since fights over sustainable streets usually involve bike lanes, pedestrian plazas and traffic initiatives like congestion pricing, you may be surprised to learn that the city's pothole-strewn black roads are one of New York's greenest components. That's because over the last fiscal year, the city Department of Transportation ripped 300,000 tons of potholed or damaged asphalt off the ground, carted it to city-run facilities and reconstituted it back into usable pavement, effectively recycling the city's roads.

This practice, inevitably, has given rise to its own controversy.

At a City Council transportation meeting last week, committee chair James Vacca said, “Many have raised concerns that the increase of potholes around our city is linked to the use of recycled asphalt, even though the federal studies have shown that recycled asphalt is just as good as new.”

Vacca, a Democrat from the Bronx, was talking about a not-so-recent effort by the city Department of Transportation to use more recycled asphalt pavement, or RAP, when resurfacing roads.
Even though New York City is the country's biggest road recycler, some critics, like Councilman James Oddo, Republican of Staten Island, fear that water can easily permeate RAP pavement and break it down over time. Oddo said he was sharing concerns he had been hearing from regional asphalt contractors.

“Basically, as best as I can understand it, they tell me we’ll press it, we’ll put it down, it will look great, it will pass the initial tests that the agency will do for the week or month," he said to D.O.T officials during the hearing. "But long-term it will not have the same longevity and durability as other types of asphalt.”
Deputy transportation commissioner Galileo Orlando responded: “We believe that RAP has a place in this industry.”

With 6,300 miles of roads matched with increasing oil prices, new road technologies are necessary to keep costs down. Recycling more pavement has been a D.O.T. goal for decades, but in recent years it's been linked to the sustainability framework in the Bloomberg administration's PlaNYC guidelines, making it an environmental issue rather than just a matter of cost-efficiency.
Last December, Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill committing the city to make most city pavement contain at least 30 percent RAP by 2015 and for the D.O.T. to "encourage the greatest use of reclaimed asphalt pavement possible.”
(Three councilmembers voted against the bill, including Oddo.)

The pavement typically used in New York is cluster of rocks, finely crushed stones or sands and the glue-like asphalt cement binder. (Or, as city law defines it: “a dark brown to black bitumen pitch that melts readily and which appears in nature in asphalt beds or is produced as a by-product of the petroleum industry.”)

When old roads are torn up during milling, the D.O.T. brings the pavement to facilities like Brooklyn’s Hamilton Avenue plant, which processes 500,000 tons of asphalt a year. There, RAP is recycled and mixed with fresh asphalt. At the moment, that plant makes asphalt made up of 40 percent RAP; with a planned upgrade, the asphalt will be 50 percent RAP.

(Last summer, the D.O.T. Tumblr, The Daily Pothole, featured a multi-part tour of the plant, guided by Warmy, a personified chunk of pavement.)

And after a recent city acquisition of a plant in Willets Point, combined with experimentation with "warm mix" asphalts that can be spread in cooler temperatures, the Queens plant is expected to create 60-percent recycled asphalts.

Hussain Bahia, a professor at the University of Wisconsin’s Modified Asphalt Research Center, said there’s no scientific reason to avoid recycling asphalt. As he put it, it's that education hasn’t caught up with improved technology.

“It's education with producers, as well as education with the public,” Bahia said. “Look, this is a very different material and you can recycle it just like a plastic bottle. You can melt it and reshape it."
Bahia has 21 years of experience working as a pavement pioneer and spearheading research into new paving methods that involve polymers and have names like Superpave. He pointed out that in recent years, producers have found ways to improve the bonds between binder, “the black sticky stuff,” and the rocks in between, leaving less room for water to infiltrate the bonds between the rocks and the binder.

"So really it's not a complex issue,” he said. “You have glue and you have rock, and we've improved the glue, we've improved the adhesive between the glue and the rock, and we've improved the selection of the rock to make it strong."

But one barrier is making sure the previous materials are as durable as new ones, which requires safeguards.
"Now, New York is moving to 30 percent and I can guarantee you that the [D.O.T.] will put more restrictions on how to reformulate any recycled mix,” he said. “And that is needed, because they don't want people to arbitrarily just bring in rock or recycled asphalt and put it with the new mixes. You have to do the right analysis to make the new material better than the old.”

Recycling asphalt is going to be more important as the price of crude oil, a crucial component in asphalt tar, rises. Bahia said over the last five to six years, rising prices meant asphalt binder more than tripled from $200 to more $600 per ton.

But if education hasn’t caught up to technology, government investment in research and infrastructure lagging behind everything, as road traffic keeps growing. "If you look at, say, the other industries like the medical business and the other fields, R&D in this country is anywhere between three and five percent. It's a fraction, particularly, for road construction." He pointed out that government research is much less, about a quarter of one percent. “I mean, it's sad how much we depend on roads, and how much little we are investing in innovation and research,” he said. “And that needs to be changed. There is no need to throw [away] these recycled materials because there's science behind it.”

Margaret Cervarich, a public affairs and marketing executive at the Maryland-based National Asphalt Pavement Association, a national trade association with over 1,200 private companies and suppliers, agreed with the positive outlook for RAP.

“They’ve done a tremendous amount of research and they’ve found that recycled mixes can be as good as, but sometimes better than, mixes with all virgin materials," Cervarich said. "Nobody has yet identified a point at which you can’t keep recycling the materials. As far as we know, you can recycle and reuse it over and over again indefinitely."

Even though 100 million tons of recycled asphalt are reused each year, according to the most recent figures in a Federal Highway Administration Report, only 12 percent of the country's roads use RAP. In some other counties, like Japan, the percentage is much higher.
“In Japan, they just don’t do things, they invest a lot more in infrastructure than we do," said Cervarich. "They are not going to put down asphalt mixes that aren’t high quality. And yet, they figured out a way to do 50 percent recycled content.”

She said some of the resistance in America came from contractors and private suppliers who want to stick with “really, really, really proven science.”

“I mean what they’re doing is basically building something that basically has to last for X number of years, lets say 30 years,” she said. “And they want it to be right. They’re good public servants, they’re trying to do the right thing and if they have a procedure that’s been working for them for ten years or 20 years, they want to stick with that. They don’t want to make changes that could potentially have a bad outcome. Sometimes people are just so conservative, and I don’t mean that in a political way, but more of an emotional way, where it’s hard for them to make a change. They just prefer to do it the way they’ve always done it.”
Cervarich said she was excited by the potential of recycled asphalt. And she sounded like she meant it.

“Between 2009 and 2010, we saved three million tons of asphalt binder, which translates to 19 million barrels of asphalt cement,” she said. “That’s a big number. That is really an awesome number.”

By Dan Rosenblum
Source- CapitalNewyork

Cement to replace Bitumen

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:13:00 +0000

The poor state of our roads has caught the attention of Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CMAN). At a one-day conference on Exploring cement-based option for sustainable road construction in Nigeria , held in conjunction with Business Day newspaper, they argued that having exceeded the local cement need, exploring cement based construction may hold the key to good and motorable roads. But experts have called for caution in its implementation to save the housing sector from crisis.

WITH 200,000 kilometres of roads, Nigeria can be said to be among countries with vast networks of roads. That is where it ends because most of the roads have become impassable. Of these roads, the Federal Government owns 18 per cent, states, 15 per cent and local governments, 67 per cent.

To improve the roads, the government is exploring Public Private Partnership (PPP) and collaborating with multilateral agencies. But cement producers believe that the commodity could go a long way in the government’s bid to rehabilitate them.

According to them, having met local consumption in cement, the excess could be deployed in road construction. CMAN Chairman, Mr Joseph Makoju said the group has witnessed installed local cement production capacity rise from about 3.0 metric tonnes per annum in 2003 to 28.0 metric tonnes.

With this, he said, the nation has moved from being the world’s leading importer of cement in 2006 to that self sufficient today. He added that the nation has the poential of being net based on the exporter of the product based on the government’s 2002 policy on backward integration.He noted that the nation has been constructing roads with asphalt or laterite when cement could do the job better.

He said: "The major cause for the collapse of our road network has been identified as our poor maintenance culture. In search for a cost effective solution, it was natural therefore to search for an alternative surfacing material which when compared with asphalt will require minimal maintenance hence our interest in cement concrete roads for Nigeria. Benchmarking against international practice, it is worthy to note that about 40 per cent of the roads in developed countries such as US, Germany etc are made of cement concrete, where as it is only about two per cent in emerging economy countries such as India and less than 0.1 in Nigeria."

He revealed that CMAN is not without an enlightened self interest in promoting the use of cement for concrete road construction but added that the summit is not in any way geared toward a marketing campaign to expand sales of cement but sees the gathering as a serious contribution to finding a cost effective and sustainabe solution to the problem of the nation’s collapsed national road network. In his address ,Ogun State Governor Ibukunle Amosun, while commending the thought behind the summit, advised stakeholders to look critically at the volume of cement being produced in the country to ensure that construction projects in other sectors apart from roads do not suffer a shortfall as a result of this innovation.

The governor, represented by the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, said as a state involved in massive infrastructure development any technology that will make construction of roads in the state cheaper and better will be fully embraced and supported by the administration.

Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolemehen, in his keynote address, said government has identified inadequate planning, poor design, ineffective supervision, lack of strong quality assuarance and inadequate funding as some of the challenges affecting the nation’s road infrastructure.

He said though flexible asphaltic pavement and concrete rigid pavement are the most common they all pose different challenges. He said: " It is well known that while the design life of concrete roads is between 35 and 50 years as against 20 to 25 years for flexible asphalt pavement, the cost of concrete roads is considerably high. However, the concrete pavement requires less frequent maintenance."

In his remarks, Governor Babatunde Fashola noted that extensive importation of cement prior to recent events in the industry has made the option very expensive. He, however, added that availability in right quantity and specification makes cement utilisation option more attractive to government. While stating that technical, environmental and user friendly quantities of pavement roads make it an interesting option, Fashola said the views of the summit and its recommendations will go a long way in assisting the government to move in this direction.

In a swift reaction, National Publicity Secretary, Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB), Mr Kunle Awobodu said the nation is yet to feel the impact of the claims of CMAN on meeting local demand of cement needs of the people as a bag still sells for between N1,900 and N2,000 in certain places in Lagos. He said the suggestion to use concrete in road construction can be best described as an acedemic exercise as the group is yet to satisfy the building sector.

He said: "We will be happy if the price of cement is reduced considerably and people are able to build their houses then we can support it being used for road construction. Cement no doubt is more durable than asphalt though more expensive. We are where we are today in terms of the quality of our roads because we have failed to exploit the large bitumen deposit and our roads are left to deteriorate with no maintenance culture."

The NIOB boss warned that possible reduction of the price of cement in the coming months should not be mistaken for availability, rather because of the approach of rainy season which usually dampens construction activity. Awobodu stressed that any analysis during the rainy season on cement will be based on false and spurious judgement which cannot stand the test of time.

According to him, if the new line of thinking is pursued by the government, the housing sector will suffer because people cannot afford the cement they need to build their houses.A highway engineer, Afolabi Adedeji, said the argument on concrete based option for the nation roads is not out of place as it is in use in advanced countries.

On some of the advantages of concrete based options, he said it lasts from 40 years and above while asphalt is for 10 to 15 years making it more durable for construction though more expensive.

He said: "Asphlat based road can be used after three to four hours of application while concrete based roads takes about 28 days to develop full strenght which delays road construction except additives are added to make it firm up. In places where they can afford to put the road out of use for a long time its more advisable to use concrete based".

Reported By OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE
Source - The Nation

Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage Bitumen Production

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Sat, 12 May 2012 03:47:00 +0000

Southern Pacific is pleased to announce expansion plans for its steam assisted gravity drainage ("SAGD") STP-McKay Thermal Project. Upon completion of the expansion,

STP-McKay Phase 1 will have a bitumen processing design capacity of 18,000 bbl/d. The expansion is anticipated to significantly reduce future overall capital costs in the entire project and accelerate the Company's production growth forecast. Southern Pacific's internal technical team have identified a unique opportunity to expand the existing STP-McKay Phase 1 central process facilities ("Phase 1 Expansion") by as much as 50% (6,000 bbl/d of bitumen based on a steam-oil ratio ("SOR") of 2.8) at an estimated cost of approximately $25,000 per barrel of designed capacity, or $150 million, including additional well pairs. The expansion plans have been in the engineering design phase for three months and based on analysis over that period, the Company has elected to proceed with expanding STP-McKay Phase 1 prior to the construction of STP-McKay Phase 2.

The expansion takes advantage of excess capacity that was incorporated into the original design and construction of Phase 1. Phase 1 currently has additional water treatment capacity that can be accessed with minimal capital investment, allowing the facility to treat approximately 50,400 bbl/d of water. Additional steam generation will be required to convert an incremental 16,400 bbl/d (50,400 bbl/d total) of treated water to steam.

An additional cogeneration turbine will be required to supplement the power demand of the expanded facilities. The remainder of the facility expansion will be limited to piping modifications and small equipment additions. The entire expansion will fit comfortably within the existing Phase 1 Central Process Facility ("CPF") site, making this expansion both cost effective and environmentally responsible.

Approval for the Phase 1 Expansion will be incorporated into the STP-McKay Phase 2 approval process. An application for Phase 2 was submitted in November, 2011. Phase 2 is a separate facility, located approximately 5 km east of Phase 1 and on the east side of the McKay River. Southern Pacific plans to provide an update to the application which will include the plans for the 6,000 bbl/d Phase 1 Expansion. Concurrently, the Phase 2 project design capacity will be reduced from the proposed 24,000 bbl/d to 18,000 bbl/d, resulting in the total STP-McKay project area retaining the same overall capacity of 36,000 bbl/d of bitumen.

There are a number of advantages to this approach. Phase 2 will be designed using a very similar design to Phase 1.. This is anticipated to reduce the total capital cost for Phase 2, which was originally designed with two integrated 12,000 bbl/d facility streams. The overall layout of Phase 2 will likely be smaller, further reducing cost and environmental footprint. From a reserves perspective, having additional capacity in Phase 1 will better balance the capacity and reserve distribution between the west and east sides of the McKay River, which will minimize the requirement for future river crossings.

Southern Pacific does not expect this revision to significantly delay the application approval process as the changes are minimal from an environmental or regulatory perspective; virtually every modification can be viewed as an improvement to the overall scheme. Southern Pacific has already consulted with the Alberta regulators on the modification, and the appropriate steps are being taken to accommodate the new Phase 1 Expansion plans within the original Phase 2 application. Additionally, the Phase 1 Expansion can be expedited quickly upon approval, with a current estimate of only nine months to construct. This will provide the Company with accelerated cash flow from the 6,000 bbl/d expansion, prior to Phase 2 start up. Assuming regulatory approval occurs in the fourth quarter of 2013, expansion volumes could be realized from Phase 1 before the end of 2014.

The Phase 1 Expansion is significant to STP; it enhances the ability of the Company to grow internally. Expected cash flow using current pricing from STP-Senlac and STP-McKay Phase 1, coupled with STP's existing debt facilities could fully provide funding necessary for the Phase 1 Expansion. Further along those lines, the Company would expect lower costs of capital funding for the Phase 2 project with the expanded cash flows from the Phase 1 Expansion and lower Phase 2 capital costs.

STP-McKay Phase 1 Construction Update

Construction of STP-McKay Phase 1 continues to advance very well. All of theCPF equipment packages and modules have been delivered to site. The permanent operating team is now fully staffed with 45 Southern Pacific employees; they are deployed on the project site and preparing for start up and operations. Commissioning of the CPF is expected to commence in mid-May and will begin with the cogen plant, which will supply permanent power. From there, a sequential start-up of various CPF process systems will occur, and first steam is anticipated to be delivered to the SAGD well pairs towards the end of June, 2012. After first steam, the wellbores will be circulated and warmed with steam for a period of three to four months after which bitumen production will commence. It is expected to take approximately 12 months for production to ramp up to capacity after steam circulation has been completed.

The project's total projected capital cost estimate remains at $440 million, as compared to the original budget of $450 million. As of March 31st, 2012 approximately $400 million of capital has been incurred or committed on the project. As most of the equipment and modules have been included in the incurred amount, the remaining capital estimate is not expected to vary significantly through to the conclusion of the construction and start up. It should also be noted that the cost estimate includes $15 million of additional scope changes to the original design that were added to further increase the reliability of the overall process and these additions will also be utilized within the Phase 1 Expansion.

Arrangements for the transportation and marketing of the bitumenproduction out of the STP-McKay Thermal Project are currently being finalized. The Company will release more details upon completion of these arrangements.

Soruce - Marketwire

Rising Demand for Polymer Modifed Bitumen

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Thu, 10 May 2012 03:05:00 +0000

Rising demand for polymer applications to drive global styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) block copolymer market

Abstract:
It is expected to further drive the demand for butadiene which will result increasing price-trends for styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer (SBS) in the near future.

Article:
Styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer (SBS) is a unique copolymer with extensive application, largest output, and lowest cost. SBS offers excellent surface friction coefficient, little permanent deformation, great tensile strength, excellent low-temperature behavior, great workability and good electric property. The polymer is extensively used in applications such as shoemaking, asphalt modification, polymer modification, liquid seal materials, waterproof coatings, electric wires, automobile components, electric cables and medical apparatuses among several others. Currently the SBS market continues to face crunch emanating from rising prices of crude oil. The effect of such volatility on end-use applications and regional downstream markets is particularly significant as the industry derives its raw material from the petrochemical industry. Conditions in almost all parts of the world including the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia, North and South America, as well as Africa have an increasing global implication on supply and demand for petrochemicals and raw materials. However, the prospects for the global Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) Block Copolymer and its development continue to appear positive. SBS sales are expected to increase as a result of global expansion in the compounding and adhesive applications, as well as due to the enhanced penetration of modified asphalts into roadway and roofing construction.

The polymer industry continued to be under pressure driven by supply and pricing dynamics in early 2011. With the supply of raw materials such as butadiene remaining tight and demand improving, the industry currently faces difficulty in competing against other higher-margin industries for supply. Butadiene prices are expected to increase further in future along with a steady rise in demand, which is expected to further spike the prices for styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS). SBS prices climbed up by 18% in 2010. During the 1st quarter of 2011, prices increased by 5% and are further expected to climb by 5% each quarter for the remaining year. With the price of natural latex rubber reaching new highs in recent years, the industry is witnessing a continuous shift in the tire manufacturing industry, towards styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) and styrene-isoprene-styrene (SIS). This is expected to further drive the demand for butadiene, hence scaling up the prices for SBS.

Asphalt Modification is the largest end-use application area for SBS in terms of volume sales. SBS is an effective asphalt modifier that is utilized in road asphalt modification and modified asphalt waterproof coiled material. SBS finds extensive application in wall bodies of several structures such as bathrooms, toilets, basements, bridges, cold storage chambers, airports, commercial buildings, highways, high-volume interstates, intersections and others. Market for polymer modification holds substantial potential for the SBS market and finds extensive application in vehicle steering wheels/bumpers, sealing parts and electric components. Polymer modification improves the environmental impact of road construction by enabling lesser need for raw materials and creating a safer and more durable road surface.

Asia-Pacific dominates the global sphere as the single largest and fastest growing regional market for SBS both in value and volume terms, as stated by the new market research report on Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) Block Copolymer. The fastest growth in demand for styrene is forecast in the Middle East, China, Eastern and Central Europe, and Central and South America. On the basis of the current announcements for capacity expansion, Mexico, Thailand, India together with other Asian countries are expected to remain the net importers while the US, Japan, Canada, Singapore, the Middle East, and the Republic of Korea, are likely to remain net exporters until 2013.

Key manufacturers are China National Petroleum Corporation, Dexco Polymers LP, Dynasol Elastomers, Kraton Performance Polymers, LCY Chemical Corp, Polimeri Europa, ShenZhen Yanshan Petrochemical, Sinopec Baling Company Petrochemical Co., among others.

Reference:
Anon: Rising Demand for Polymer Applications to Drive Global Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) Block Copolymer Market, digitaljournal.com, May 03, 2012.

Source - Bitumenengineering

Asphalt Roofing

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Sat, 05 May 2012 05:31:00 +0000

The state Office of General Services will begin receiving bids on or about May 16 to install an asphalt roof on the state Department of Transportation’s new regional headquarters at 50 Wolf Road in Colonie, New York.
The project, which calls for installing a modified bitumen roof, has an estimated value of $2.5 million to $3.5 million.

Bid documents will be available for purchase on or about May 16. The bids are due on or about June 6.
As is typical with most state construction projects, the contract will include an early completion bonus for substantially finishing the project during this construction season.

DOT officials encourage interested bidders to attend a pre-bid meeting. A date for that meeting has not been set yet.

Reported By - Pam Allen , Source- BizJournals

Soaring Bitumen Prices hits Malta

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Thu, 03 May 2012 03:07:00 +0000

Asphalt price hikes may hit road building

Residential road projects may face delays due to the soaring price of bitumen. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Roadworks in residential areas could grind to a halt unless contractors are paid enough to make up for a recent steep rise in the price of a main component of asphalt.

Sources said the contractors are seeking higher rates following hikes in the prices of diesel and electricity and a two-fold increase in the price of bitumen, a common binder used in road construction.

Asphalt is made by mixing aggregate with bitumen, which in turn is mainly obtained as a residual product from petroleum refineries after higher fractions like gas, petrol, kerosene and diesel are removed.
Since 2009 the price of bitumen has shot up. Its price fluctuates with the price of oil, which currently stands at nearly $ 120 per barrel.

The present situation is being compounded by difficulties that road contractors are facing to procure bitumen from just five suppliers on the island, themselves road contractors.
This has already led to a slowdown in the government's residential roadwork programme. Now, with no contractors committing themselves to carry out jobs unless the rates are revised, the whole programme risks coming to a standstill.

The deteriorating situation became evident last week when road projects in Luqa, Birżebbuġa, Żejtun and Mellieħa stalled. One of the projects received no bids while the other three received bids with a proviso: that the work could not be carried out at the rates agreed upon four years ago.
Bad roads and potholes are the island's scourge so this situation is likely to fuel motorists' frustration.
Transport Malta has asked the Director of Contracts to put in motion a clause in the 2009 framework agreement signed with 14 road contractors that allows for the rates to be re-negotiated. The framework agreement expires at the end of this year.

Sources said auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has been engaged to verify the new rates being proposed by contractors so that they would at least be able to cover their costs.

The government had signed a framework agreement under which road projects are assigned to different contractors at pre-agreed rates. It ensured that work could proceed at a fast pace as there was no need for calls for tenders – jobs were awarded to contractors according to what they could take on.
More than 400 residential roads have been constructed since 2008, most of them for the first time, with another 100 programmed by the end of the year. Around half of these had been promised prior to the last general election.

By Matthew Xuereb -Source- Times of Malta

Asphalt Recycling Facility in UK

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 02:29:00 +0000

A £2.3 MILLION asphalt plant and recycling facility could be built on the banks of the River Medina, creating 14 jobs.

Plans for the plant, together with associated ancillary facilities, have been submitted to the Isle of Wight Council by Eurovia Roadstone, which is part of Vinci Ringway, one of two companies bidding for the roads Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

If approved, the plant would be built on a former landfill site adjacent to Medina Wharf, off Arctic Road, Cowes. According to plans published today (Friday) on the Isle of Wight Council planning website, the development would include an associated cold-process recycling plant, mobile crusher, weighbridge, offices, lorry park, storage bays, workshop and access.

The proposed site falls within the parish of Northwood and councillors there are due to discuss the plans at their meeting at Northwood Primary School on Tuesday at 6.30pm. A report supporting the application states: "Throughout the period of the PFI contract, it will be necessary for the proposed development to produce and supply materials on a 24 hour a day, seven day a week basis, albeit the trading levels shall range from modest to almost insignificant depending upon what part of the contract is assessed.

"While it is necessary for the asphalt plant to have flexibility as to when it is able to supply and accept materials, it is likely that the facility shall not operate during all of the hours proposed."
According to the report, the plant itself will be carefully designed to meet recommended noise limits while complaints about dust and odour nuisance are considered "unlikely to occur" due to the measures to be put in place.

Meanwhile, aggregates will be imported to Medina Wharf on purpose-built vessels but other raw materials, such as bitumen, cement and limestone dust, will be imported via the existing ferry services using 30-tonne tankers. It is predicted the development will create an addition three vehicle movements in each direction along Arctic Road per hour.

The report concludes: "A detailed assessment of the impacts of the proposed development has been completed which shows that the development will give rise to some impacts which are not likely to cause inconvenience to any local residents."

It adds: "The proposals, will, however, provide significant benefits for the area; new employment and the generation of industry on the Island, the supply of high-quality coated road stone, the reuse of previously landfilled land, the recycling of waste and the reduction of HGV miles when compared to a facility which would be located other than at Medina Wharf."

Reporter: martinn@iwcpmail.co.uk
Source- Country Press

Bitumen Production

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:59:00 +0000

Bitumen Production of various refineries around the World.

Source - Nationmaster

Rank	Countries	Amount	Date
# 1	United States:	30,815,000 ton	2005
# 2	Soviet Union:	16,100,000 ton	1991
# 3	China:	9,229,000 ton	2005
# 4	Japan:	5,395,000 ton	2005
# 5	Russia:	4,986,000 ton	2005
# 6	Canada:	4,620,000 ton	2005
# 7	Iran:	3,786,000 ton	2005
# 8	Germany:	3,601,000 ton	2005
# 9	India:	3,576,000 ton	2005
# 10	Spain:	2,900,000 ton	2005
# 11	Korea, South:	2,482,000 ton	2005
# 12	Malaysia:	2,124,000 ton	2005
# 13	Singapore:	1,975,000 ton	2005
# 14	Saudi Arabia:	1,930,000 ton	2005
# 15	United Kingdom:	1,912,000 ton	2005
# 16	Turkey:	1,761,000 ton	2005
# 17	Venezuela:	1,689,000 ton	2005
# 18	Brazil:	1,420,000 ton	2005
# 19	Taiwan:	1,375,000 ton	2005
# 20	Poland:	1,139,000 ton	2005
# 21	Thailand:	1,093,000 ton	2005
# 22	Belgium:	1,076,000 ton	2005
# 23	Netherlands Antilles:	1,044,000 ton	2005
# 24	Mexico:	953,000 ton	1990
# 25	Czechoslovakia:	910,000 ton	1991
# 26	Egypt:	905,000 ton	2005
# 27	Sweden:	837,000 ton	2005
# 28	South Africa:	802,000 ton	2005
# 29	East Germany:	730,000 ton	1990
# 30	Argentina:	666,000 ton	2005
# 31	Czech Republic:	536,000 ton	2005
# 32	Chile:	500,000 ton	2005
# 33	Iraq:	491,000 ton	2005
# 34	Hungary:	477,000 ton	2005
# 35	Austria:	466,000 ton	2005
# 36	Ukraine:	451,000 ton	2005
# 37	Belarus:	443,000 ton	2005
= 38	Indonesia:	430,000 ton	2005
= 38	Australia:	430,000 ton	2005
= 40	Bahrain:	410,000 ton	2005
= 40	Greece:	410,000 ton	2005
# 42	Netherlands:	408,000 ton	2005
# 43	Syria:	400,000 ton	2005
# 44	Portugal:	386,000 ton	2005
# 45	Finland:	311,000 ton	2005
# 46	Pakistan:	296,000 ton	2005
# 47	Colombia:	276,000 ton	1994
# 48	Algeria:	254,000 ton	2005
# 49	Kuwait:	214,000 ton	2005
# 50	Côte d'Ivoire:	200,000 ton	2005
# 51	Morocco:	198,000 ton	2005
= 52	Croatia:	181,000 ton	2005
= 52	Bulgaria:	181,000 ton	2005
# 54	Libya:	169,000 ton	2005
# 55	Lithuania:	163,000 ton	2005
# 56	Romania:	157,000 ton	2005
# 57	Israel:	138,000 ton	2005
# 58	Azerbaijan:	128,000 ton	2005
# 59	New Zealand:	117,000 ton	2005
# 60	Jordan:	114,000 ton	2005
# 61	Yemen:	113,000 ton	2005
# 62	Kazakhstan:	109,000 ton	2005
# 63	Peru:	107,000 ton	2001
# 64	Uzbekistan:	104,000 ton	2005
# 65	Ecuador:	102,000 ton	1995
# 66	Yugoslavia:	91,000 ton	2005
# 67	Albania:	87,000 ton	2005
# 68	Sri Lanka:	52,000 ton	2005
# 69	Slovakia:	49,000 ton	2005
# 70	Cuba:	43,000 ton	2005
# 71	Philippines:	33,000 ton	2003
# 72	Trinidad and Tobago:	27,000 ton	2005
# 73	Nicaragua:	21,000 ton	2005
# 74	El Salvador:	20,000 ton	1995
# 75	Nigeria:	19,000 ton	2005
= 76	Gabon:	15,000 ton	2005
= 76	Kenya:	15,000 ton	2005
# 78	Costa Rica:	13,000 ton	2005
= 79	Panama:	10,000 ton	1995
= 79	Uruguay:	10,000 ton	2005
= 81	Jamaica:	9,000 ton	2005
= 81	Cyprus:	9,000 ton	2004
= 83	Georgia:	8,000 ton	2005
= 83	Norway:	8,000 ton	1994
# 85	Angola:	7,000 ton	2005
= 86	Denmark:	5,000 ton	2003
= 86	Zambia:	5,000 ton	2005
= 86	Barbados:	5,000 ton	1997
= 86	Cameroon:	5,000 ton	2005
= 90	Ethiopia:	2,000 ton	1999
= 90	Bolivia:	2,000 ton	2005
	Total:	122,271,000 ton
	Weighted average:	1,343,637.4 ton

Canadian Bitumen to Generate 41 Billion

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 04:34:00 +0000

The Canadian upstream industry for in-situ (well) production of bitumen will generate cumulative infrastructure orders of roughly $41 billion (U.S.) through the next ten years (2012-2021, according to the findings in a new research report, "Oil Sands and Heavy Oil Worldwide -- Production and Infrastructure Markets," just released by industrial and energy market research publisher SBI Energy. The components of infrastructure orders include equipment, fabricated vessels and structures, and bulk products.

"Canadian production of bitumen and heavy crude oil is averaging approximately 2.4 million barrels a day in 2012 and is projected to pass 3.0 million barrels a day in 2016," says Emil Salazar, SBI analyst and author of the report. "Approximately 70% of future oil sands production growth will be realized through in-situ production of bitumen, which will see cumulative five-year capital expenditures (CAPEX) of $50 billion."
The 2011-2021 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.8% for global unconventional crude oil production will see the Americas continue to dominate global production of bitumen, and heavy and extra-heavy crude oil, with continued growth in the Canadian oil sands and the expansion of heavy and extra-heavy crude oil production in Venezuela and other Latin American countries. Outside of the Americas, Middle Eastern expansion of heavy crude oil production will represent a significant development, more than doubling unconventional crude oil production in the region through 2021.

The report's market focus is timely, as global production of unconventional crude oil is projected by SBI Energy to expand at a faster rate than light and medium crude oils through 2018. Conventional light and medium crude oil reserves are estimated to represent only 30% of total remaining petroleum resources, with heavy crude oil, extra-heavy crude oil and bitumen representing 70% of remaining reserves recoverable through existing, viable production techniques and technologies.
"Oil Sands and Heavy Oil Worldwide -- Production and Infrastructure Markets" takes a detailed look at unconventional crude oil development and production, providing historical and forecast (2007-2021) production rates by resource type and country (Canada, United States, Venezuela) or region (Latin America [excluding Venezuela], the Middle East, Russia and Central Asia, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Europe); historical and forecast development and production CAPEX volumes for unconventional crude oil by country or region; historical and forecast infrastructure markets for well fields, production facilities, subsea fields, and offshore topsides by country or region; historical and forecast upgrader facility expenditures for synthetic crude oil production in Canada and Venezuela; and market breakouts for the leading Canadian oil sands infrastructure market by well pad infrastructure, oil treating systems, water treating systems, steam generation systems, and cogeneration equipment.

Source - SBI Energy
SBI Energy, a division of MarketResearch.com, publishes research reports in the industrial, energy, building/construction, and automotive/transportation markets. SBI Energy also offers a full range of custom research services. To learn more, visit www.sbireports.com.

Please direct all media inquiries to:
Shelley Carr
(717)552-8429
scarr@sbireports.com

Bitumen Shortage in Cape Town

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:09:00 +0000

City calls upon National Government to intervene in on-going bitumen shortage

Councillor Brett Herron, Mayoral Committee member for Transport, Roads and Stormwater has written to the Ministers of Energy and Transport calling upon them to intervene to secure a reliable and predictable supply of bitumen. The supply of bitumen, an essential component in the production of asphalt required for the maintenance and construction of roads in the City, has been erratic and unreliable since last year. This is impacting negatively on Council's ability to keep up with construction and maintenance programs and may continue to do so over the coming months. This could potentially result in under spend on operating and capital budgets.

Bitumen is a by-product from oil refineries and, due to factors such as breakdowns, production changes at refineries, and changes in the Middle-East supply situation, has been difficult to source for the City's road maintenance projects. The local refinery, for example, no longer produces the grade of bitumen required for the production of asphalt specified for Council's road surfacing.

We have been advised by one of our asphalt suppliers that the erratic bitumen supply situation will probably continue for the foreseeable future. This could impact negatively on road construction not only in Cape Town, but on a national scale as well.

Councillor Brett Herron, Mayoral Committee member for Transport, Roads and Stormwater says, "Everything possible is being done to ensure that the impact of the present bitumen supply situation is minimised but delays on certain projects could still occur."

Councillor Herron has called on the national Ministers of Transport and Energy to take urgent steps to ensure that South Africa's future supply of bitumen is protected as it is a resource that is essential in preserving South Africa's economic growth trajectory. "It is absurd that oil producers are continuing to export bitumen while South Africa is having to import it in order to meet national demands. Not only this, but oil companies are not co-ordinating their maintenance schedules in such a way that there is always a reliable supply."

PLEASE SEE BELOW A COPY OF THE LETTER FROM CLLR HERRON TO MINISTER J S NDEBELE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT BELOW:

20 April 2012
Minister J S Ndebele
Ministry of Transport
Private Bag X193
PRETORIA 0001
Fax: 012 328 3194

Dear Minister Ndebele,

Over the past year the City of Cape Town, together with the rest of the country, has endured an unpredictable supply of bitumen and at times a bitumen shortage. The lack of security of supply of bitumen undermines the planning and implementation of our infrastructure projects as well as the repairs and maintenance of our vital road network.

We welcomed the Minister of Finance's commitment to infrastructure led economic growth and development and in particular to the investment of approximately R70 billion in road infrastructure across the country.
As you are aware the City of Cape Town is also investing substantially in infrastructure. Over the coming MTREF budget period we are committing to significant improvements in our road infrastructure and a major expansion of our integrated rapid transit (IRT) service with concomitant investment in the required infrastructure.

Our current and future infrastructure projects require a reliable bitumen supply and the lack of security of supply places our projects in jeopardy of being implemented and/or completed. This will in turn undermine our commitment to providing the infrastructure necessary for economic growth, social inclusion and universal urban mobility.

Clearly, the various national and provincial road improvement projects the national budget has committed to are also at risk.

It is our view that our national government needs to take urgent steps to ensure a predictable and reliable supply of bitumen in order to effect our service delivery promises. I am, therefore, writing to call upon you to take the necessary steps to secure the bitumen supply required to implement the vast and important infrastructure projects we have all committed to.
These steps could include one or more of the following:
1. Declaring bitumen a strategic mineral resource which would require our refineries to maintain sufficient bitumen supply and reserves;
2. Ensuring that planned refinery maintenance is co-ordinated and staggered so that some bitumen supply continues whilst maintenance takes place; and
3. Prioritising local supply of bitumen over export.
I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss this crisis at your earliest convenience and look forward to hearing back from you urgently.

Yours faithfully,

BRETT HERRON

COUNCILLOR/RAADSLID/CEBA
MAYORAL COMMITTEE MEMBER: TRANSPORT, ROADS & STORMWATER
BURGEMEESTERSKOMITEELID: VERVOER, PAAIE & STORMWATER
ILUNGU LEKOMITI YESIGQEBA SIKASODOLOPHU: EZOTHUTHO, IINDLELA NAMANZI ESITSHI
Statement issued by Councillor Brett Herron, Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Roads and Stormwater, City of Cape Town, April 23 2012

Source -Politicsweb

Tar sands oil heading east? Controversial crude could make its way to New England via pipeline

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 02:50:00 +0000

David Dodge photo A Canadian tar sands oil mining operation as seen from the air.

The Keystone XL pipeline extension, which would transport an oil product known as "tar sands" to refineries on the Gulf Coast, has received a wealth of media attention this year.

However, the Keystone XL pipeline isn't the only transportation path for tar sands oil. Oil suppliers have explored a number of ways to move the controversial petroleum product to market, including pathways through the Northeast.

One of Canada's largest pipeline operators, Enbridge, Inc., developed a plan in 2008 to reverse one of its existing lines to begin moving tar sands oil east from Western Canada, where the industry is set to boom.

Enbridge's Line 9, which starts in the western part of the country, would be capable of delivering tar sands oil to Montreal if the company reversed the flow of the entire line.

Enbridge proposed doing just that four years ago with it's so-called "Trailbreaker" project.

To move the tar sands oil on the final leg of the journey from Montreal to Maine, the company proposed utilizing the existing Portland-Montreal Pipe Line.

PMPL stretches more than 200 miles, cutting through Vermont and northern New Hampshire. It currently transports crude in the other direction, from Maine to Montreal.

Enbridge officials have since scrapped the Trailbreaker project, citing a sour economy. But environmental groups in both Canada and the United States believe recent actions indicate the company is working to revive the proposal incrementally.

Recently, Enbridge filed a request with Canada's National Energy Board to reverse the flow of oil in a segment of Line 9, which connects Sarnia and Westover in Ontario.

Enbridge spokesperson Jennifer Varey said the company is making the move in order to begin transporting light crude to a facility in Westover.

Varey said Line 9's future use will be dictated by the demands of shippers, and Enbridge has not determined whether to request permission from Canadian officials to reverse the entire pipeline.

"It's one of those things where, if the market demand is there, there is the possibility that we would be bringing Canadian oil to those markets," in the Northeast, she said.

In addition to the activity around Line 9, environmental groups in Canada have been following developments near Montreal, where the operator of the Portland-Montreal Pipeline is seeking to build a new pumping station.

That pumping station would provide the necessary machinery to push oil over a range of mountains near the Vermont border, which would be an impediment if the flow of the pipeline is reversed.

However, the company has lost legal battles over its request in at least two Canadian courts — most recently from the Court of Quebec.

"The project itself of reversing the flow of the pipeline, at this time, is not moving forward because the market conditions, at this time, do not warrant that project to move forward," said Denis Boucher, a PMPL spokesperson.

However, Dylan Voorhees, director of the clean energy project at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, which was been following the issue, worries it's only a matter of time before the pipeline operators decide to renew the project.

Voorhees said the situation is concerning because moving tar sands presents a greater risk for an oil spill than moving conventional crude oil.

Tar sands is more acidic — and therefore more corrosive — than conventional crude oil, and it must be transported at hotter temperatures and faster speeds, according to Voorhees.

"I think that's one of the concerns that people in New Hampshire might have, is, 'What are the resources and special places that this pipe passes through?'" Voorhees said.

Tar sands, referred to as oil sands in Canada, are a combination of clay, sand, water and bitumen — a heavy, black, asphalt-like substance. Tar sands can be mined and processed to extract the bitumen, which is then refined into oil.

The bitumen in tar sands cannot be pumped from the ground in its natural state. Instead, tar sand deposits are mined, usually using strip mining or open pit techniques, or the oil is extracted by underground heating, according to information available from the U.S. Department of Interior.

As a result of the more energy-intensive extraction techniques, environmental groups argue the production of fuels derived from tar sands is more damaging to the environment than crude oil extraction.

California was set to become the first state in the country to implement a low-carbon fuel standard this year, which could have significant consequences for producers of tar sands products.

The standard would impose penalties on fuel suppliers who ship products with a higher "carbon intensity," like tar sands-derived gasoline, to California. Money collected through the program would support production of cleaner fuel sources.

New Hampshire is among 11 states in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic considering a similar program called the Clean Fuels Standard, which has been in development for nearly five years.

Arthur Marin is executive director of Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM), the group developing the Clean Fuels Standard.

Until this year, he said, the group had been modeling its design on the California fuel standard, but recent developments in the Golden State have cast doubt on the constitutionality of the program.

Opponents challenged the program in court in December, arguing the fuel standard violates the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution because it attempts to impose a penalty for extraction techniques used in Canada, outside of the state's borders.

With California's program facing an uncertain future, NESCAUM is now examining alternative models for a low-carbon fuel standard, Marin said.

Marin said those involved with the project are realistic about the inevitable rise of tar sands-derived fuel production.

"We've had many discussions with representatives from Alberta, from the oil companies ... and I think everyone understands that that's a potential new source of oil that's going to be playing in the United States market," he said.

Last month, the non-partisan, nonprofit news group InsideClimate News reported that New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney and his counterparts in the other NESCAUM states were recently contacted by an oil industry group regarding the uncertainty over California's standard.

The oil industry has also taken an interest in developments in the New Hampshire Legislature. Last month, the House passed bills that would pull New Hampshire out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an air quality compact, and free it from any commitment to the low-carbon fuel standard.

HB1487, the bill barring the state from adopting the Clean Fuel Standard, passed the House on a 243-96 vote.

Rep. James Garrity, chairman of the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee, said he helped to promote HB1487 because his time in the Legislature has given him insight into the drawbacks of participating in regulatory pacts like RGGI. Garrity said opponents object to the program because it relies on a "central-planning, state-directed" approach to developing clean fuels.

"We're making the message clear to the rest of the New England states," he said. "New Hampshire's not going to go there."

One of the state's representatives in the regional fuel standard talks, Mike Fitzgerald, called the House bill "somewhat unfortunate." Environmental regulations such as the low-carbon fuel standard must be adopted broadly to be effective, he said, and New Hampshire's primary leverage in the discussions has been the fact that it might or might not participate.

The House bill does not prevent the state from helping to draft the fuel standard. But if New Hampshire declares it won't cooperate, the state will be in a weaker position to shape the regulations, which could have an impact on fuel prices.

One of New Hampshire's primary concerns in the ongoing discussions is ensuring the standard doesn't increase the price of gasoline or diesel fuel, according to Fitzgerald.

"Obviously, the state is looking at what can we do to mitigate climate change, and so there would be, potentially, some balancing of economic and environmental interests," he said, "but obviously, if there was something that was going to significantly impact the price of petroleum and diesel and gasoline, that would be a major concern." Although the prospect of tar sands piping through New Hampshire's north country remains hypothetical, Garrity said he would back initiatives to ship the product through the state, and oppose new efforts to curtail tar sands production.

"Tar sands oil is no different from oil coming from Texas or Saudi Arabia," he said. "It's all refined into the same product, so what I get at the pump is gasoline. What I get is number two fuel oil in my fuel tank. When your prevailing world view is all fossil fuels are evil, nothing but zero will satisfy."

By JIM HADDADIN
jhaddadin@fosters.com

Source - Fosters

South Africa's Bitumen Demand

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 08:29:00 +0000

New Government Funded Road Maintenance Projects in South Africa to Boost Demand for Bitumen, Says Frost & Sullivan

The bitumen market is slowly responding to supply shortages with the introduction of trial bitumen mixes on roads in South Africa. The ability to develop new bitumen and admixture technologies that support greater worker safety, enhanced environmental protection and improved road surfacing treatment opens up the market to increased innovation.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.chemicals.frost.com), Market for Bitumen and Additives in Road Infrastructure in South Africa, finds that the market earned revenues of $270 million in 2010 and estimates this to reach $462 million in 2017.

"The future of the bitumen market is likely to be fuelled by new government funded road infrastructure projects in the short-to long-term," notes Frost & Sullivan's Chemicals, Materials and Food Research Analyst Bhavisha Jaga. "The drive to grow and sustain the bitumen industry, due to the supply shortage, will be largely influenced by health, environmental and safety concerns in the future."
High chemical fume emissions, associated with bitumen, have motivated the use of warm mix asphalt in certain regions in South Africa. Novel bitumen technology offers many advantages, including lower fuel consumption, reduced carbon emissions and increased worker safety. All these factors will work towards preventing the road construction industry from suffering from the supply shortage of bitumen in the medium-term.

High crude oil prices serve to exacerbate the limited production of bitumen by refineries in South Africa. In addition to the long waiting period to establish an asphalt plant, producers of asphalt also face daily logistical issues and this makes it difficult to improve bitumen supply to the road sector.
"In a market where there is no co-ordination between refineries to refine bitumen, it becomes difficult to measure whether there is sufficient bitumen supply to meet market demand," explains Jaga. "The asphalt market also attempts to promptly respond to market demand and it seems likely that the adoption of global bitumen technologies, such as recycled asphalt, will boost capacity for bitumen usage in the future."
The main bitumen producers in South Africa are four refineries that are highly dependent on crude oil prices. Despite the type of dependence, there are certain operations that can be followed to make the bitumen industry more sustainable.

"It is important that refineries co-ordinate their refinery shutdown to ensure that the open refineries meet market demand for bitumen," advises Jaga. "The regulation of bitumen prices will go a long way towards ensuring that the bitumen market remains competitive and sustainable in the future."

Market for Bitumen and Additives in Road Infrastructure in South Africa is part of the Chemicals & Materials Growth Partnership Services programme, which also includes research in the following markets: Southern African Mining Explosives, South Africa Automotive Refinish Chemicals, South African Thermoset Resins Market and Sub-Saharan African Market for Polyurethane. All research included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

About Frost & Sullivan
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If you are interested in more information on this study, please send an e-mail with your contact details to Samantha James, Corporate Communications, at samantha.james@frost.com.

Source - http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/press-release.pag?docid=255636703

Water to Produce Petroleum

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 02:55:00 +0000

Subir Bhattacharjee — a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta and one of Canada’s top water quality experts — tells Circle of Blue about the water cycle of the tar sands.

The Suncor refinery in Edmonton, Alberta produces 135,000 barrels per day of light oils from tar sands-based crude.

With astonishing speed, and considerable risk to water supplies and wild lands, the global energy industry is massing to significantly reduce imports and push North America higher on the list of the world’s top oil-producing regions. Canada’s tar sands — which are located beneath a Florida-sized stretch of northern Alberta — are a big reason why energy economists are convinced that such a huge change in the sources and geopolitics of oil is possible. Energy companies are converting bitumen, the asphalt-like compound embedded in the tar sands, into 1.5 million barrels of oil a day, three-quarters of which is exported to the U.S as fuel or raw synthetic petroleum.

But converting bitumen to fuel involves enormous open-pit or steam-injecting mining operations that are reshaping a forested landscape, sharply increasing pollution, and consuming huge quantities of fresh water. The toll on the environment, especially on the region’s water supply, is awakening vigorous public opposition and prompting the major companies to undertake new fields of research to reduce water contamination and consumption.

In March, J. Carl Ganter, Circle of Blue’s director, attended a high-level conference in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, and interviewed Subir Bhattacharjee, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta. One of Canada’s top water quality experts, Bhattacharjee is developing new technology and practices to prevent tar sands development from polluting northern Alberta’s freshwater reserves.

Circle of Blue: Let’s start with What is petroleum-produced water?

Subir Bhattacharjee: When you produce petroleum you basically produce a lot of water along with it. In conventional petroleum processing, the water is essentially either re-injected back underground or you use it for another kind of an industrial use. In Alberta, we use water to produce petroleum. In some of those applications, you are injecting water underground or you are injecting steam underground. You take the oil and water back up above ground. This oil and water are mixed together. Separating the water and recycling it to recover more oil becomes a very expensive process — we work on trying to clean up this water, which we call “produced water.”

There are interesting ironies with produced water; with creating the steam and treating the water afterwards. Describe the process for me.

Subir Bhattacharjee: The enhanced oil recovery processes that we have in Alberta use water in the form of steam to inject underground. It reduces the viscosity — which is the flow-ability of the oil — and makes it more easily extractable from the underground formations. When that oil and water come out of the ground, you need to separate the oil. That’s the value stream. You convert that oil to whatever you can sell, but you take the water back. This water is contaminated with all the organic molecules and the solutes and the salt that was underground.

In mining bitumen, you do not dispose any water: you store all the water, because the policy is zero liquid discharge. That’s the reason we have about 750 million cubic meters (198 billion gallons) of tailings ponds, which is growing in Alberta. It’s a legacy that we have, because we always had a policy that there was no need to treat the water.

You need to clean it up, so it can be fed into a boiler that will make it steam. This is a very energy-intensive process, especially when you have water-treatment technologies that are conventional and require you to bring the temperature of the water down to very low values, to make it amenable to treatment by these technologies. Then you have to heat this water back to steam. That also involves a lot of energy. This a very interesting facet of the global challenge when you are producing energy: how much water you are consuming. And how much energy you have to spend to clean that water back up.
In the context of oil sands production, this is a very challenging issue. You are using a very clean-burning hydrocarbon like natural gas to produce oil. There should be some questions asked about the use of one type of fuel to produce another type of fuel. Now again, I think one of the rationales is that the fuel that we produce is a transportation fuel, and its value should be differently assessed compared to natural gas, which is not traditionally a transportation fuel.

You have a lot of great numbers to share. Give us a sense of the most important ones.

Subir Bhattacharjee: Oil sands production has two different flavors of technology that’s used. One is mining. The other is steam flooding or steam-assisted gravity. Mining uses surface water, and it is quite water intensive. The total water requirement to produce a barrel of bitumen would be approximately 17 to 19 barrels, according to most estimates. A lot of this water is held in tailings ponds and is recycled back to the process. So, what you have is the net water intake. The net freshwater intake for these plants is about 1.8 to 2.4 barrels for each barrel of bitumen produced. If you start out a new bitumen operation, a lot of water is needed. As a plant gets normalized and starts operating in its regular cycle. it uses less and less fresh water. But that number, according to most companies, is not less than 1.8 to approximately two barrels of water per barrel of bitumen.

Dr. Subir Bhattacharjee in his laboratory at the University of Alberta.

The steam-assisted gravity drainage is a slightly different story. To produce a barrel of bitumen, you need a total of three barrels of water to be boiled to produce steam. The process will not make economic sense, if the steam-to-oil ratio goes anywhere above five barrels of water per barrel of oil. Given that steam oil ratio of three-to-one, with a 90 percent recycle regimen, the amount of water required inside the operations is never more than .3 to .4 barrels per barrel of bitumen — so, this is a much lower water footprint than the mining. There is also less water to dispose of.
In mining bitumen, you do not dispose any water: you store all the water, because the policy is zero liquid discharge. That’s the reason we have about 750 million cubic meters (198 billion gallons) of tailings ponds, which is growing in Alberta. It’s a legacy that we have, because we always had a policy that there was no need to treat the water.

Give me a description of our state of hydrocarbons: the belief was that we were reaching peak oil. But maybe it’s peak water that will be defined by how much water we have and how we manage our water.

Subir Bhattacharjee: That’s a very interesting point. What’s the choke point? Is it that we will not be able to drive our vehicles? Do we choke ourselves with the carbon dioxide produced by burning the fuel? Or is it that we won’t have enough water to produce the fuel in the first place? My short answer is that I don’t have a very clear idea. Globally, we have a fixed amount of total water in various geographical regions. In certain places you may have sufficient water to produce oil, but the water is coming from a very saline groundwater formation. To clean it up — to reduce the salt content to a level where it is more amenable to processing oil — is a huge energy consumer. Or you are in a water-stressed region that has enough water for producing oil, but does not have enough to grow crops: so how would you allocate that water? Would you transport it to first produce the crop and send it back to produce oil? Or can someone use water that has been contaminated by oil, treat it, and actually use it for agriculture?
These questions will be big driving issues in terms of water being the choke point, the decisive factor that will decide the price of oil. It’s not yet there, but, most likely, the price of water will dictate what the price of oil is.

You said something that’s absolutely key: the price of oil may be defined, and, in some cases probably already is, by the actual price or the cost of managing water. What’s missing is that it’s an inside conversation, not a public conversation.

Water consumption and oil production do not get that much attention, except in Alberta. The issue is twofold. The cost of production decides what technology will be able to recover a certain type of oil. Until oil went to about $US 36 a barrel, there was very little interest in Alberta’s oil sands. Recovery of a new type of oil only becomes feasible economically at a certain price point for oil.

These questions will be big driving issues in terms of water being the choke point, the decisive factor that will decide the price of oil. It’s not yet there, but, most likely, the price of water will dictate what the price of oil is.

So, if you take that argument the other way, you basically say that the cost of water and the cost of energy to produce a barrel of oil has a strong correlation with the current price of oil. So, what you are seeing is that the price of oil reflects the price of the other commodities that have been used to produce that oil. By the way, I don’t see hydrocarbon resources depleted anytime soon. We’ll find new types of hydrocarbon resources.

What’s the big story in technology? What do you expect in the next five years in water-treatment technology, with oil pulling chemicals out of the water or even treating water for municipal use and for personal use?

Subir Bhattacharjee: So much has been developed in terms of technology. Water treatment as a field is very mature, with extremely advanced technologies — we have an amazing array of technologies that can treat water. The best future for water technologies is when the proponents of these technologies can come up with a way of optimizing the use of these technologies. I hope they tailor a set of technologies, where one plus one doesn’t add up to just two, but one plus one is chosen in such a way that the benefit becomes more than two. There are quite a few ideas around that have immediate effects, in terms of reducing the cost of treatment or dramatically improving water quality with a lower energy footprint. There will be small paradigm shifts over the next decade, which relate to getting distributed water sources for people who are in different locations. [For example,] coastal communities around the world will have to start looking at saline water to get their drinking water, [since] the cost of transporting water from inland over a long distance to coastal communities is starting to make less and less sense.

Source- Circle Blue

CRMB For Georgia

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:41:00 +0000

New road specifications to allow for reuse of Georgia's scrap tires as asphalt

Abstract:
Georgia Department of Transportation, USA changed the road construction specifications and included rubberized asphalt / asphalt rubber as a polymer modified binder. Crumb rubber will be widely used from now in durable pavements.

Article:
Georgia state Rep. Randy Nix is pleased to announce that the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has amended the state's road construction specifications to include recycled tire rubber as an alternative to conventional oil-based polymers for road asphalt production. Recycled tire rubber will be in widespread use as early as the 2012 paving season. Rubberized asphalt roads save money by reducing dependence on oil and will help Georgians reduce waste by recycling millions of scrap tires annually.

"Tires are manufactured in large quantities and with great durability. By reclaiming tire rubber for asphalt roads, we can repurpose that durability and provide a beneficial outlet for this problematic waste material," said Rep. Nix, vice chairman of the Natural Resources and Environment Committee. "And by sourcing tire rubber from within the state, Georgia will not only experience environmental benefits but create jobs. Oil-based polymers are brought here from other states and countries. Recycled rubber is sourced internally, so all dollars stay right here in Georgia."

The initiative to change Georgia's specs to include recycled tire rubber was the result of a promise Rep. Nix made to the Georgia House of Representatives last year. When Rep. Nix asked the House to approve legislation to renew the $1 used tire fee that supports the Solid Waste Trust Fund, he promised to find a solution for the scrap tire problem. After consulting with the House and Senate Transportation Committees and GDOT, Nix sought the expertise of Liberty Tire Recycling, Lehigh Technologies, and Blacklidge Emulsions. With new test data from the national organizations, GDOT accelerated its approval of the process and will have recycled tire rubber specs available for asphalt road jobs bid in April 2012.

"I wish to thank GDOT Commissioner Keith Golden, Chairman Jay Roberts of the House Transportation Committee, and a special thanks to Chairman Jeff Mullis of the Senate Transportation Committee, for helping me deliver on my promise," Rep. Nix said. "In addition to addressing the scrap tire problem, Georgia will derive many benefits through this cooperative effort for years to come."

High-performance rubberized asphalt saves money by requiring less pavement thickness to withstand the same amount of traffic as conventional asphalt, as well as by replacing higher-cost oil-based polymers. Rubberized asphalt also requires less maintenance over the life of the road. To enhance safety, rubberized asphalt allows water to drain away from the roadway, thereby reducing splash and spray. Rubberized asphalt also reduces the level of road noise for nearby residents by as much as 4 decibels.

"Liberty Tire Recycling and our partners are excited to work with GDOT to create longer-lasting, safer roads for Georgia residents and visitors," said Dick Gust, director of government affairs for Liberty Tire Recycling, the premier provider of tire recycling services in North America. "Rubberized asphalt is a technology backed by decades of research and development, but it takes forward-thinking government officials like Reps. Nix and Roberts, Sen. Mullis and Commissioner Golden to bring an initiative like this to fruition."

Liberty Tire Recycling has also worked with state officials and community partners in recent years to clean up thousands of tires spread across illegal tire dumps throughout the city. Illegal tire dumping is a major problem in Georgia, with $700,000 allocated in next year's budget just for cleanup. If just 10 percent of Georgia's road projects were constructed with recycled tire rubber, all of the tires Georgians generate each year would be reclaimed and recycled.

Reference:
Anon: State Rep. Randy Nix Praises Amendment of Road Specifications to Allow for Reuse of Georgia's Scrap Tires as Asphalt, PR Newswire, March 28, 2012.

Source- bitumenengineering

Tibet to surface it's Roads

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:23:00 +0000

LHASA: In a bid to ensure an easier access to its monasteries, Tibet will earmark 1.5 billion yuan (about $240 million) on road construction, the authorities said Sunday. The work is expected to be completed by 2020.

According to government statistics, Tibet has more than 1,700 registered monasteries and venues for religious activities with about 46,000 monks and nuns.

By 2015, asphalt, or bitumen roads will be extended to over 70 percent of the region's monasteries with the help of the funds, Xinhua reported citing a statement issued by Tibet's traffic transportation department. Road access to every monastery of the region is expected to be available by 2020, the statement said.

The plateau region is known as "the roof of the world" with an average altitude of over 4,000 metres and road construction is more difficult and costly than in other parts of China.

Source-Punjabnewsline

Noise Supressing Rubberized Asphalt

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:51:00 +0000

Abstract:
City of Canyon Lake, California, USA decided to apply rubberized asphalt layer on existing road surfaces to reduce traffic noise, improve durability and increase lifetime of pavements.

Article:
When the Railroad Canyon Rd. (in City of Canyon Lake, California, USA) improvement project is completed in eight months, the main drag through Canyon Lake will be wider, better looking and quieter.

The $9 million construction project will expand RRC Rd. in Canyon Lake from four lanes to six, result in new monument signs at the City’s entrance as well as retaining walls, drought-tolerant landscaping and decorative features.

“Although there seems to be more noise coming from Railroad Canyon Rd. after the trees and shrubs were removed, the final product will be much quieter and smoother,” says Mayor Jordan Ehrenkranz.

The retaining wall will be rebuilt, new landscaping will be added and the road will be made of noise-suppressing rubberized asphalt.

The road surface will consist of regular asphalt that is mixed with crumb rubber made from ground-up used tires. Not only does the road material recycle discarded tires that might otherwise end up in a landfill, but the rubberized asphalt road lasts longer than a conventional road and can dramatically reduce road noise.

The Arizona Department of Transportation discovered that asphalt rubber overlays on roads resulted in up to a 12-decibel reduction in road noise, with a typical reduction of seven to nine decibels.

A three-decibel reduction in road noise has the same effect as doubling the distance between the source of the noise and the person hearing it. Or put another way, reducing traffic noise by 50 percent.

The overlay is an economical alternative to sound walls, which are expensive to build and may cause the noise to reflect or “bounce” to a wider area.

Rubberized asphalt roads also last longer. Roads paved with conventional asphalt require some sort of maintenance every few years. Because of the resistance to cracking and aging exhibited by rubber-modified asphalt, roads paved with rubber-modified asphalt applications generally experience longer service lives before maintenance is required.

Longevity is not the only benefit. Each year, more than 60 million tires end up in stockpiles and landfills. Depending upon the application, between 500 and 2,000 scrap tires can be recycled in each lane mile of rubberized asphalt pavement. That means for a one-mile section of a six-lane highway, anywhere between 3,000 and 12,000 tires can be used in creating a safer, quieter, longer-lasting road!
During all the work on RRC Rd., the City and the contractor ask drivers to keep their cars out of the work zone, watch out for truck crossings, pay attention to flag people and obey the 35 mph speed limit in the construction zone. Violators face double fines.

Reference:
Lori Moss: Noise-suppressing rubberized asphalt to be used, The Friday Flyer, March 23, 2012.
Source- bitumenengineering

Modified Bitumen Usage and refinement of Specification

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:32:00 +0000

Modified Bitumen Usage and refinement of Specification. India in Colloboration with UK.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of National Highways in the country through various executing agencies including National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). National Highway development projects are planned and designed for constructing all weather roads for specific designed life, in accordance with approved Standards, Specifications, Codes and Guidelines which are reviewed and updated from time to time for incorporating latest developments including introduction of new materials, specifications and techniques such as modified bitumen, Stone Matrix Asphalt, Recycling of Pavements, Ground Improvement techniques etc. for improving the longevity of roads.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) have signed an Agreement on 18th January, 2011 to develop and expand co-operation in the roads and highway sector in India on the basis of mutual benefit. The aim of the Agreement is to stimulate business activities and to facilitate technical knowledge up gradation between public and private sector enterprises and professional institutions. Besides, highway engineers of the Ministry and NHAI regularly undertake collaborative training programmes in various developed countries for gaining technical knowledge for improving the technology of building roads.

This information was given by the Minister of Road Transport & Highways Dr. Tushar A. Choudhary in a written reply in Lok Sabha today

SanjayKumar/kd

Source- Press Release

Plastic Roads

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:01:00 +0000

A week after it formally announced the decision to lay a 10km long road using plastic wastes, Coimbatore city corporation has launched a massive hunt for carry bags weighing less than 40 microns. The initiative targeting shops and establishments has been vastly successful, with officials seizing an average of 400 kg of plastic a day.

The seized plastics will be used along with plastic waste collected across the city to construct the proposed road. According to Corporation Commissioner T K Ponnusamy, the civic body is hell-bent on making the city free from plastic pollutants. "We have intensified our drive to seize banned plastic. Our focus is on locating wholesale distributors of banned plastic. The public can also help by informing the corporation on illegal use of plastic," he said.

According to C M J Raman, Secretary of Citizen's Voice Club, it is a welcome initiative to lay roads using plastic wastes. "Developed by a professor in Madurai, this technology has been widely successful. It is good to know that the corporation will help eliminate pollutants in this way. If the corporation takes steps to bring down the price of cloth bags, more people will opt for them," he said. According to Ponnusamy, the corporation is yet to identify the road to be laid using plastic. But works should begin very soon, he said. Only recently, the Chennai corporation laid a similar road near Valluvar Kottam successfully.

"Plastic waste is mixed with asphalt to create a compound called polymerized bitumen which enables the road to withstand monsoons and everyday wear and tare," said a corporation official who says they are hoping to collect at least 50 tonnes of plastic wastes for this purpose. If it is successful, they plan to lay more roads this way, he revealed.

With the initiation of this project, the corporation's anti-plastic drive which had lost its sheen is now regaining momentum. Many leading shops in the city have stopped using the banned plastic. D Ramesh, managing director of three franchisees of supermarket chain Nilgiris, says that they strictly follow the corporation's directive.

"We do not sell plastic covers below 40 microns. Also, we charge for every cover. Each may cost from Rs 1 to Rs 3 depending on size. We even lost a few customers at our Race Course branch as neighbouring shops do not charge for covers. Some customers bring their own bags. However, I cannot say that the use of plastic has come down significantly," he said.

M Priya, a lecturer, says that she believes there are limitations in banning plastics altogether. "Alternative options must be explored. Cloth bags can be used. But there are limitations as it is not always possible to carry a cloth bag," she said. P Lovelin, a businessman in Podanur echoes the same sentiment. "It is good if we can avoid all types of plastics. But how often will we remember to take a cloth bag. It is odd to carry such a bag in front of people," he says frankly

Source - Times of India

Poor Quality Roads in Nigeria

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 03:20:00 +0000

LOKOJA - Engineers of Kogi Ministry of Works who connive with contractors or fail to ensure proper supervision of government contracts for quality job delivery are to be relieved of their appointments.

The Speaker of Kogi House of Assembly, Alhaji Abdullahi Bello, said this while ruling on a motion by Mr. Nathaniel Taiwo of Kabba-Bunu constituency at Wednesday’s plenary sitting of the House.

Reports say that the Speaker decried the spate of shoddy execution of road and housing contracts awarded by government, which the ministry’s engineers ought to have supervised.

In his motion, Taiwo had urged the House to impress on the government to opt for asphalt overlay rather than surface dressing in awarding road contracts.

He said the surface dressing hardly lasts up to six months before developing potholes.

Seconding the motion, Mr Gabriel Daudu of Ogori-Magongo constituency, said the experience of the state in surface dressed roads was not encouraging.

The lawmaker remarked that asphalt overlay would last longer and serve the people better.

After several contributions from members, most of whom expressed dismay over the spate of dilapidation of the roads recently constructed, Bello said that the works ministry engineers had failed in their responsibility.

The Speaker asserted that the problem with the roads had nothing to do with asphalt overlay or surface dressing, but inability of the ministry to supervise the jobs and ensure quality delivery.

He noted that several surface dressed roads in other states constructed years ago with bitumen under President Shehu Shagari’s administration were still serving in some states.

“The roads were done by human beings, not spirits. It is not the fault of the ex-governor but the Ministry of Works which failed to supervise the contracts.

‘’There is need to put the ministry’s engineers on notice that their jobs are on the line because of their inability to ensure quality jobs.”

Source - http://nigerianobservernews.com/16032012/sports/sportsnews7.html

EU Bans Iran Bitumen

noreply@blogger.com (Benzene International Pte Ltd) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 03:42:00 +0000

The European Union is seeking to ban imports of products including petroleum oils and natural gas from Iran and to bar global bank-transfer messaging companies from providing services to entities subject to EU sanctions.

The EU regulatory arm and the bloc’s foreign affairs service proposed that as well as more common fuels such as gasoline and diesel, the list of banned products include oils obtained from bituminous materials other than crude, liquefied petroleum gas as well as bitumen and asphalt, according to a draft regulation obtained by Bloomberg. The document details what is included in the EU’s oil embargo on Iran, which enters into full force on July 1 when a grace period on existing contracts ends.

The EU is also seeking to prohibit the supply of “financial communication services” to individuals and businesses whose assets and resources the bloc decided to freeze, according to the draft measure, which is being considered by EU national governments.

That clarifies that Swift will have to impose sanctions against Iranian financial institutions. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication said last month it is prepared to discontinue services once the EU presents implementing rules on restrictions adopted by the bloc’s 27 nations on Jan. 23.

The EU draft regulation offers some exemptions from the asset freeze, including the possibility of releasing certain funds for diplomatic missions or making available of certain funds to the Central Bank of Iran for the execution of existing contracts, which are allowed to continue until July 1.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ewa Krukowska in Brussels at ekrukowska@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net

Source- http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-14/eu-drafts-iran-oil-blacklist-seeks-swift-services-ban.html