This paper examines the effect of gas oil fraction extraction depth from fuel oil on the physicochemical and performance properties of road bitumen. The study’s novelty lies in establishing the relationship between the seven-component chemical group composition of heavy residues and their oxidation kinetics. It has been experimentally demonstrated that using feedstock with a nominal viscosity (VU80) in the range of 20–80 s (corresponding to fractions of 480–525 °C) enables the production of bitumen that simultaneously meets the requirements of ASTM D946, EN 12591, and ST RK 1373. The paper substantiates an optimal “viscosity range” for processing non-standard feedstock, ensuring increased resistance of the finished product to thermal-oxidative aging.
Bukanova et al. (Wed,) studied this question.