Application of oily sludge and natural bitumen as additives for modification of bitumen

Oily sludges are generally formed from oil residues, effluents and wastes of different stages of separation in the petroleum industry and have various and complex compositions depending on the source of production and storage conditions. In addition to reducing capacity and causing corrosion in storage tanks, these sludges will also cause environmental risks due to water and soil pollution. In this study, using physical methods, the hydrocarbon compounds in the sludge are separated from other compounds including water and solid minerals. Then by adding different percentages of separated sludge and natural bitumen to 60/70 bitumen, were formulated bitumens with different quality. The physical and chemical properties of the resulting bitumen were evaluated in the laboratory and the results show an increase in the desired quality of produced bitumen. In this paper, the surface response method (RSM) was used to optimize the bitumen production formulation.