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Sulfonated Asphalt is a compound made from Sulfonating the Asphaltic material, synthetic and/or natural in order to make it solvable in water. The procedure contains special technology to be applied along with several chemical additives to change the nature of the asphalt for water solubility while preserving certain characteristics.

What is Sulfonated Asphalt?

Sulfonated asphalt is partly water soluble, party oil soluble and partly solvable in both water and oil providing a high emulsifying property which makes it suitable to emulsify with both fresh water and sea water along with the Oil, providing some unique characteristics to be applied in Drilling Fluids.

Sulfonated Asphalt is usually formed as a Blackish Brwon Powder and supplied in 50 pound sacks for application at the drilling sites. Considering the use of Synthetic bitumen as raw material, HSE regulations must be followed precisely for application of this drilling additive.

Benefit and features of using sulfonated asphalt:

• It is compatible with all water based drilling muds (WBM)
• Depressing the solid expansion of drilling chips
• Controlling HTHP Flow
• Helps maintain low shearing rate under HTHP
• Controls high temperature water loss
• Improves Filter Cake Quality and helps seal micro fractures
• Prevents slides and falls of wellbore walls
• improving lubricating properties of drilling mud
• Sulfonated Asphalt does not require use of emulsifiers for corresponding mixing
• Prevents Stuck Drill Pipe
• Its specific solubility in water and oil ensures excellent chemical and physical bonding properties
• Has Crack sealing effect
• Inhibits dispersion of drilled solids

Sulfonated Gilsonite

Basically Sulfonated Gilsonite is a sort of Sulfonated Asphalt, but with different properties and production method. Sulfonated Gilsonite is obtained from processing Natural Bitumen while Sulfonated Asphalt is made through sulfonating certain asphalt materials through a special method.

Most famous Sulfonated Asphalt in the world is SOLTEX additive formulated by Chevron Company and enhanced over 50 years of application. Following Soltex, American Gilsonite company has also provided a Sulfonated Gilsonite to the market with similar properties at 25-50% cheaper prices, while both products are highly expensive.

More economic prices for Sulfonated Asphalt can be obtained from Chinese factories actively using Iran Gilsonite for their formulation and improving the economics of their sulfonated asphalt products.

At Zista Gilsonite facility, we have proudly formulated our own Sulfonated Gilsonite in several grades to match same applications of Soltex Additive for high quality market and also an economical formulation of Sulfonated Gilsonite to match Chinese/Indian supply. Having first hand local access to the main natural resources, provides Zista Gilsonite with a competitive edge impossible to reach by Non-Iranian suppliers.

For more information about Zista Sulfonated Gilsonite, please visit the related product page:

Water Based Muds

Gilsonite Sealer

For Asphalt Pavements, a Seal Coating material called pavement sealer is applied. Sealer is a protective liquid coating. Pavement Sealer is applied to asphalt pavements surface to protect it against environmental corrosion effects. Gilsonite can used to make asphalt pavement sealers as raw material liquidized into a bituminous soft material in a suspension mix. Gilsonite Sealer can be applied easily on asphalt same as paint on wooden surfaces. Gilsonite Sealer has unique characteristics which provides strong binding with the asphalt bituminous content and provides the essential protection against cracking, especially from freeze/thaw cycle.

Gilsonite Sealer usage in streets and highways

Gilsonite properties provides longevity to asphalt based and emulsion based pavements. The nature of Gilsonite Sealer results in regeneration of molecular bonds within the pavement surface and assist in coloring effects providing a shinier fresh black surface. For this unique properties Gilsonite Sealer is applied vastly in Driveways and also in streets and avenues in addition to high traffic road such as highways. It is tested that applying Gilsonite Seal Coating maintenance every 1-2 years could result in increasing the pavement shelf life to 25 years. Also Gilsonite sealer could be blended with asphaltic pavement waste to make new pavement.

Benefits of Gilsonite Sealer

To summarize applying Gilsonite Sealer to asphalt pavements has the below advantages:

• Enhanced Visual Appearance
• Increase in Weather Resistance properties (anti-oxidation effect)
• Excellent Bonding with asphalt wearing course
• Crack Filling Effects
• Regeneration of Bonds on Wearing course
• Increase in pavement longevity
• Chemical Resistance (automotive leaks) and water resistance
• Stronger Frost Resistance in Cold Weather
• Easy to Apply
• Supply availability on commercial scale and vast availability on consumer scale

Gilsonite Sealer Prices

Since Gilsonite Sealer is liquid, unlike Gilsonite which is sold by weight, Sealer is sold by liters. On consumer level each liter of Gilsonite Sealer is purchased at 3.5-5 USD depending on the manufacturer and packaging.  In USA, the largest market of Gilsonite Sealers in the world, the material is sold per Gallon around 15 USD and it is available in most of tool shops as driveways are an integral part of middle class Americans.

On Commercial level, Gilsonite Sealer Bulk price could be as low as 1.5 USD/Liter depending on the applied Gilsonite Supply and penetration bitumen prices in the manufacturing country.

Is Gilsonite Sealer Same as Liquid Gilsonite?

No, Gilsonite Sealer is a suspension blend of melted Gilsonite with another bituminous material while Liquid Gilsonite defines natural bitumen ores with very low softening point. Liquid Gilsonite could be used as pavement sealer, but the general application is in Oil Drilling. So Liquid Gilsonite is a natural resource while Gilsonite Sealer is a manufactured product.

Other Pavement Sealers

In addition to Gilsonite Sealer there are numerous sealers which are being applied internationally. Some are as below:

Sealer	Pros	Cons
Gilsonite Sealer	As mentioned Above	Relatively Expensive
Asphalt Emulsion Sealers	Anti-Oxidant Less Air Pollution Better Smell	Staining Effects Needs Certain Temperature Unstable Pricing
Coal Tar Sealers	Weather Resistance Shiny Wearing Course Resistant to Petrol Based Chemicals	Possibility of Water Pollution, Health Damage and Environmental Damages
Fast Dry Sealers	Quick Drying Suitable for High Traffic Roads	Relatively Expensive Lack of Supply on Consumer Scale
Acrylic Sealers	Multi-Color Availability Weather Resistance High Traffic Spaces Application UV resistance Highly Durable Environment Friendly Low Maintenance Cost (reapplied every 7 years)	Very Expensive

Zista Gilsonite Sealer Products

As a high scale Gilsonite supplier with investment in mining operations, Zista Gilsonite has access to variety of natural bitumen deposits in order to make a blend of Bitumen and Gilsonite. Production of Gilsonite sealer is a customized job at Zista Gilsonite and it is arranged by blending 50% of Solid Gilsonite powder into a low softening point Bitumen plus certain fuel additives. At the moment the supply is only available in Bulk and for commercial purposes and we hope to provide our packaged consumer friendly products within near future in order to expand our market size.

Advantage of Zista Gilsonite Sealer is customized formulation for buyers as per commercial buyers needs and requirements and the blending is executed in-house in Zista Group Oxidized Bitumen Facility.

Description to Trinidad Lake Asphalt

Trinidad Lake Asphalt commonly called TLA is among the oldest resources of asphalt products going back to 100 years. The expression applies to Natural Bitumen Lake (pitch Lake) located in south west of Trinidad. The Lake is over 40 hectares which the Lake asphalt has surfaced and is ready to collect. The material is Semi-Solid and an emulsion of water and bituminous compound.

In order to reach a suitable material, the mined Trinidad Lake Asphalt has to be processed to some extent as the gravels and other impurities are pasted to the product within the Lake. The reason is the boiling out of the TLA from the ground causing its mixture with the earth and gravels. Separately from the outside impurity, Trinidad Lake Asphalt also contains a high ratio of Internal Impurities, scientifically called Ash Content which is not possible to remove by refining.

Behavior of Trinidad Lake Asphalt

Trinidad Lake Asphalt has interesting rheology behavior. It reacts well with any refinery bitumen matter considering its bitumen content to be mostly made of maltenes. Also TLA is easily melted at relatively low temperatures causing easy to use procedures in any hot mix of bituminous blends. The reaction of Trinidad lake asphalt with normal Asphalt Binders such as penetration bitumen is solid and considering the same origin of both (crude oil) the bonding evolves into a new material with superior characteristics for the pavement.

Typical Physical Properties

Trinidad Lake Asphalt has the below general properties which is also compared to a similar resource of Lake Asphalt located in Iran:

Specifications	Trinidad Lake Asphalt (TLA)	Iran Lake Asphalt
Softening Point °©	90-100	90-110
Solubility in TCE (wt%)	50-55	60-70
Penetration @ 25°©	0-4	0-4
Maltene (wt% of Bitumen Content)	63-66	50-65
Ash Content (wt%)	35-40	30-35
Sulfur Content (wt%)	2-4	6-10
Moisture Content (wt%)	<5	<2
Specific Gravity	1.3-1.5	1.3-1.5

 

Advantage of Using TLA

Applying Trinidad Lake asphalt can enhance the bituminous pavement quality in several aspects. In mixing TLA with common pavement grades of penetration bitumen such as 40/50, 60/70 and 80/100, the complex modulus and phase angle of binders were separately increased and decreased with the rise in TLA content, while aging phenomenon was reduced and RUTTING resistance was increased.

Another study shows Trinidad Lake Asphalt makes it easy to generate segregation phenomenon in binders. Also the range of Viscosity in the asphalt and binder remains stable when applying TLA (Mixture Stability Effect). When applying, the more TLA applied, the larger increase will happen in large molecules, small molecules and Polydispersity Index.

Mixing TLA with common binders also increases anti-aging effects by increasing ketone and sulfoxide molecules. In addition to above, some more advantages of using Trinidad Lake Asphalt are:

• Increased Pavement Durability
• Layer Equivalency
• Improved Resistance to High-Temperature Deformations
• Improved pavement load carrying
• Improved whole-life pavement costs
• A light colored, safer, surface and improved ability to display pigments effectively
• Enhanced Skid Resistance Characteristics
• Improved low temperature cracking characteristics

Trinidad Lake Asphalt Applications

TLA is used wherever a high quality and strong pavement is required and different type of payments such as Asphaltic Concrete, Mastic Asphalt and SMAs can include TLA. Most common applications of Trinidad Lake Asphalt are for Bridges, Airports, Heavy Traffic Highways, Race Tracks and Container Yards.

Trinidad Lake Asphalt Packaging

Trinidad Lake asphalt is available in Jumbo Bags, Drums and Kraft Paper Capsules. Considering the Semi-Liquid nature of the material, smaller packaging from Trinidad Lake Asphalt Suppliers have Not been successful. Comparing to TLA, Iran Lake Asphalt has a higher softening point allowing it to be powdered before packing resulting in several type of packaging including 25kg Paper/PP/Meltable bags and Jumbo bags.

The word Asphalt originally derived from latinization of the Greek work Asphaltos and based on late latin words asphalton or asphaltum. In ancient civilizations asphalt is used for pasting cement joints and in the Middle East it was vastly used for road paving and waterproofing which are current major applications of asphalt.

Basically asphalt is combined set of aggregates from crushed rock, sand, gravel, slags or bitumen. Nowadays, use of by-products and wastes are also common – such as sludge or construction wastes – resulting in higher sustainability of asphalt. The result of this mixture is a black, sticky and high viscosity blend in solid or semi-liquid form which is relatively homogenous and suitable to expand over flat layers.

How is asphalt produced?

Asphalt is produced through mixing and blending several aggregates at an asphalt plant in high temperatures usually from 150-180 degrees Celsius. Asphalt plans could by mobile as well in order to produce the asphalt blend on site.

Producing Asphalt at different temperatures

In order to achieve different specifications for different applications, the asphalt can be made in different conditions which most effective one is the temperature. Below is a general categorization of asphalt making:

Asphalt Production Method	Temperature of the Blend (°Celsius)	Suitable Bitumen Used for the Blend
Hot Mix Asphalt	120-190	Penetration Bitumen
Warm Mix Asphalt	100-140	Soft Penetration Bitumen
Half Warm Asphalt	70-100	Soft Penetration Bitumen
Cold Asphalt	Without Heating	Emulsion or Foamed Bitumen

 

Asphalt Applications

While major application for asphalt is road paving, considering the variety of specifications, it can be used in several sectors including the below:

• Transportation (roads, railway beds or airport runways…)
• Building construction (floorings, roofing…)
• Industrial (ports, landfill caps …)
• Recreation (playgrounds, running tracks, tennis courts…)
• Agriculture (greenhouse floors, barn floors…)

Layers of Asphalt Paving

Asphalt Paving consists of several layers, from ground to top consequently as below:

• Sub-Base and Sub-Grade: Preparation of the foundation with suitable clay or sand base aggregates
• Base Course: Most important layer to distribute the force traffic through the pavement layers
• Binder Course: Binder courses are implemented to stand the shear forces below the asphalt surface and reduce rutting sufficient stone-on-stone contact and stiff and modified binders such as Gilsonite.
• Surface Course: Surface course is the top layer of the pavement and stands high traffic and environmental stresses while providing an even profile for the user and enough texture to ensure minimum and safe skid and rutting resistance.

Asphalt Binder

Asphalt Binder is a bituminous layer that can be added either to the Surface layer or as an extra layer called binder course below the surface to make a stronger bind with the base course.

Surface Asphalt Binder is an asphalt emulsion designed for tack coat for patching, paving, and coating. Asphalt Binder increases adhesion of bituminous concrete and coatings.

Asphalt binder as binder course is an intermediate course between the base course and the surfacing material consisting of medium-sized aggregates bonded together by bituminous material such as Molten Gilsonite.

History of Gilsonite in Utah

Gilsonite was firstly known by Native Americans in the Utah area which then were offered to White-Men as coal for blacksmithing. Since using Gilsonite instead of coal is hazardous, the material soon became famous and several people including Samuel Gilson started working on development of material for different industries.

Eventually by obtaining most of the resources ownership in Utah Gilsonite mines, Samuel Gilson was able to make the first Gilsonite company in 1903 called the Gilson Asphaltum which later on was purchased by Chevron and partners and the name changed to American Gilsonite company in 1948 which owned all large veins of Utah Gilsonite mines along with most of smaller veins of Gilsonite in the Utah area and the situation has continued during the years.

Geologic Setting

Utah Gilsonite Mine veins which are somewhere around 50 million years old, are located in Tertiaryaged in the Uinta Basin. The explored formations of vein are found in Duchesne River, the Wasatch, Uinta and Green River. In the Wasatch Formation Gilsonite can be exploited from eastern edge which has escaped the Oil shale above.

Location

Utah Gilsonite Mines are founded in long, vertical, northwest-trending veins in a 60-mile by 30-mile block. The veins’ width can vary with an average of 1-2 meters. The veins of Utah Gilsonite mines are interestingly continuous and long. The vertical veins are mostly located in the Green River oil shale, so they are more vertically extensive to the northwest where they are not as deeply eroded.

Reserves

The primary reserve estimation of Utah Gilsonite mines was 45,000,000 tons which after years of exploitation with an average of 20-60,000 tons (with a spike of 470,000 tons in 1907 to feed the Gilsonite gasoline refinery), it had come down to 5,000,000 tons in 1980; estimated by American Gilsonite company. Therefore, already most of that ore from Utah Gilsonite mine has been extracted.

However, three factors could increase the total reserve of Gilsonite:

1. Possibility of discovering new veins in Utah Gilsonite Mines in addition to increased reserve estimations of smaller veins which are already discovered in Utah area.
2. Emerging new resources of Gilsonite outside Utah Gilsonite mines, including Iran Gilsonite veins estimated to be over 30,000,000 tons and only 2,000,000 tons have been exploited already. Another emerging resource – which is currently supplying to American Gilsonite Company to help economics of production and covers for lack of Utah Gilsonite mine reserves – is Colombian asphaltite with similar characteristics to Gilsonite and large reserves found in Magdalena Basin in Colombia estimated to have around 20,000,000 tons of untouched reserve; causing USA oil companies and American Gilsonite Company to divert investments and purchasing power to these resources.
3. Scattered around the world, there are also different reserves of Natural Bitumen similar to Utah Gilsonite mine which could cause large scale discoveries any time in the future. (Gilsonite Global Reserves)