asphalt (redirected from Bitumen feedstock)

asphalt (ăs`fôlt, –fălt), brownish-black substance used commonly in road making, roofing, and waterproofing. Chemically, it is a natural mixture of hydrocarbons. It varies in consistency from a solid to a semisolid, has great tenacity, melts when heated, and when ignited will burn with a smoky flame leaving very little or no ash. It is found in nature in deposits called asphalt lakes. Natural asphalt was probably formed by the evaporation of petroleum. Asphalt is obtained as a residue in the distillation or refining of petroleum. This is its important commercial source. It occurs also in asphalt rock, a natural mixture of asphalt with sand and limestone, which when crushed is used as road-building material. Asphalt is also used in the manufacture of paints and varnishes, giving an intensely black color.

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asphalt

Black or brown petroleum-like material that has a consistency varying from viscous liquid to glassy solid. It is obtained either as a residue from the distillation of petroleum or from natural deposits. Asphalt consists of compounds of hydrogen and carbon with minor proportions of nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen. It softens when heated and is elastic under certain conditions. Used principally in road surfacing, asphalt is also used for roofs, coatings, floor tilings, and waterproofing, and in industrial products.

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asphalt

1. any of several black semisolid substances composed of bitumen and inert mineral matter. They occur naturally in parts of America and as a residue from petroleum distillation: used as a waterproofing material and in paints, dielectrics, and fungicides

2. a mixture of this substance with gravel, used in road-surfacing and roofing materials

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asphalt [′a‚sfȯlt]

(materials)

A brown to black, hard, brittle, or plastic bituminous material composed principally of hydrocarbons; formed in oil-bearing rocks near the Dead Sea, and in Trinidad; prepared by pyrolysis from coal tar, certain petroleums, and lignite tar; melts on heating; insoluble in water but soluble in gasoline; used for paving and roofing and in paints and varnishes.