Property prediction for asphalts from blended sources
AssigneeExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company
InventorsPavel Kriz, Lyle Edwin Moran, John H. Brownie
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods are provided for predicting the properties of an asphalt fraction that contains two or more asphalt components based on measurements of the viscosity for the asphalt fraction. Based on the measured viscosity, a virtual cut point is determined for a virtual asphalt blend that has the same viscosity (to within a tolerance value) as the measured viscosity for the asphalt fraction. The virtual cut point is then used to determine a variety of predicted property values for the asphalt fraction. Optionally, the predicted property values can be used to adjust the actual cut point for the distillation or separation process used for forming the asphalt fraction.
Claims20
A method for predicting asphalt properties, comprising:
- measuring a kinematic viscosity of an asphalt fraction at a temperature of 100° C. to 150° C., the asphalt fraction being formed by separation of a feed containing asphalt components from a plurality of crude sources based on a cut point temperature, the asphalt components being present in the feed in a first set of ratios;
- determining a virtual cut point for a virtual asphalt blend comprising the asphalt components having a kinematic viscosity that is within a viscosity tolerance of the measured kinematic viscosity, the virtual cut point being determined based on measured kinematic viscosity values for the asphalt components and the first set of ratios for the asphalt components;
- calculating a second set of ratios corresponding to a virtual composition of the asphalt components in the virtual asphalt blend based on the virtual cut point;
- calculating one or more properties other than kinematic viscosity for the asphalt fraction based on the second set of ratios for the asphalt components and at least one of the virtual cut point, the measured kinematic viscosity, or the determined kinematic viscosity for the virtual asphalt blend;
- and
- modifying the cut point temperature for the separation based on a calculated value for at least one of the one or more properties other than kinematic viscosity.
A method for predicting asphalt properties, comprising:
- obtaining kinematic viscosity values at a plurality of cut point temperatures for a plurality of asphalt components, each of the plurality of asphalt components corresponding to an asphalt fraction derived from a single crude source at an identified cut point;
- obtaining values for one or more additional properties for each of the plurality of asphalt components;
- obtaining values for kinematic viscosity and for the one or more additional properties for a plurality of asphalt fractions comprising asphalt components from two or more crude sources;
- constructing a predictive model that correlates a measured viscosity value with values for the one or more additional properties for an asphalt fraction comprising a plurality of asphalt components, the predictive model comprising parameters for the one or more additional properties for each asphalt component that are fit to the obtained values for the plurality of asphalt fractions comprising asphalt components from two or more crude sources;
- measuring a kinematic viscosity of a first asphalt fraction comprising at least two asphalt components at a temperature of 100° C. to 150° C., the first asphalt fraction being formed by separation of a feed containing the at least two asphalt components based on a cut point temperature, the at least two asphalt components being present in the feed in a first set of ratios;
- determining a virtual cut point for a virtual asphalt blend having a kinematic viscosity within a viscosity tolerance value of the measured kinematic viscosity for the first asphalt fraction, the virtual cut point being determined based on measured kinematic viscosity values for the at least two asphalt components and the first set of ratios for the at least two components;
- calculating a second set of ratios corresponding to a virtual composition of the asphalt components in the virtual asphalt blend based on the virtual cut point;
- and
- predicting one or more properties other than kinematic viscosity for the first asphalt fraction based on the constructed predictive model, the second set of ratios at least one of the virtual cut point, the measured kinematic viscosity for the first asphalt fraction, or the determined kinematic viscosity for the virtual asphalt blend.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.