ISSN: 2578-4994
Authors: Alhassan M*, Asmau MS, Nasiru Y, Suleiman M, Safiya MA, Isah AA, Abdullahi B, Garba AA and Kasimu A
A comparative study was carried out to determine the behavior of N-hexane, Diethyether and Methanol extracts of Nigerian bitumen obtained from Irele Community of Ondo State, Nigeria. Total sulphate, Nitrogen and Moisture content were determined for the three extracts. FTIR, XRF techniques were employed to characterize the raw bitumen while GCMS was used to analyse the extracts. Moisture and Nitrogen content determinations revealed that diethylether extract has higher moisture (1.3%) and Nitrogen (0.854%) ; N-hexane extract has 1.0% and 0.784% while methanol extract is not detected (ND) and 0.084 moisture and Nitrogen contents respectively. SO3 (13.74%), CaO (12.34%) and Fe2O3 (7.33%) are the dominant oxides shown by the XRF spectroscopy with trace quantities of many impurities amounting to 58.68%. The total sulphate content of diethyether, n-hexane and methanol extracts was 0.70, 0.62 and 0.12% respectively. The Nigerian Bitumen compares favourably with other bitumen deposits, however, a lot of attention and resource is needed for its commercialization.
Keywords: Bitumen; Nitrogen Content; Moisture; Total Sulphate; Oxide Composition
