Viscosity of bimodal concentrated bitumen emulsions

Conventional monomodal emulsions have a maximum dispersed phase concentration, , of 0.69. Concentrated bitumen in water emulsions have very few water in their formulation, 0.74 for highly concentrated emulsions. Bimodal emulsions are combinations of monomodal emulsions of a drop size distribution of 1 y 5 pm respectively. This article summarizes the main conclusions related with the design, formulation and laboratory manufacture and later measurement of viscosity of bimodal concentrated bitumen emulsions. These emulsions should be prepared with a system able to control the final drop size. In this study we have used the HIPR (High Internal Phase Ratio) procedure. The emulsions formulated in this paper, φ = 0,70, are characterized by having viscosities up to five times lower than their small monomodal size counterparts. © 2019 Carreteras. All rights reserved.