This thesis explored how asphaltene and naphthenic amphiphile species influence the formation (morphology and size) and stability of heavy crude oil (bitumen) emulsions. It was experimentally shown that asphaltenes produce water-in-oil emulsions. Naphthenic amphiphiles on the other hand flip the emulsion morphology to oil-in-water. It was further demonstrated that the size and stability of these emulsions is influenced by physicochemical effects such as the pH, solvent-bitumen-water ratios, solvent aromaticity, and temperature. In view of these findings, the hydrophilic-lipophilic deviation (HLD) and net-average curvature (NAC) models were looked at as potential means for predicting the formation and stability of emulsions. Owing to the complexity of bitumen emulsions, however, the HLD and NAC models were instead tested against well-defined sodium dihexyl sulfosuccinate-toluene-water emulsions. The morphologies of these emulsions were predicted as a function of the formulation salinity whereas corresponding droplet sizes were predicted as a function of the continuous phase density and interfacial tension (γow). Emulsion stability trends were in turn predicted using a collision-coalescence-separation assumption. From this assumption, emulsion stability was expressed as a function of the emulsion droplet collision frequency and activation energy. The key parameters of the highly scrutinized activation energy term included the γow, interfacial rigidity, and critical film thickness. In applying the same modeling approach to the stability of other emulsions already published in the literature, it was found that the rigidity of adsorbed multilayer/liquid crystal films cannot yet be fully accounted for. This shortcoming was the reason for which only minimum stability times were reported for bitumen emulsions.

L'additivation chimique des bitumes est un des procédés employé industriellement pour produire des enrobés bitumineux tièdes. Bien que différents additifs commerciaux soient disponibles sur le marché, les mécanismes d'actions impliqués dans la réduction des températures de mise en œuvre demeurent relativement mal connus. Dans le cadre de cette thèse CIFRE TOTAL, trois approches complémentaires ont été étudiées afin d'avoir une meilleure compréhension de ses mécanismes. La particularité de notre démarche vient du fait que ces études ont été réalisées aux températures de mise en œuvre des enrobés bitumineux (90°C - 165°C). Dans un premier temps, une étude rhéologique indique qu'à ces températures, le bitume possède un comportement newtonien sur une large gamme de taux de cisaillement. Nous avons montré que la viscosité du bitume est peu sensible à l'ajout d'additifs mais qu'elle dépend essentiellement de la température. Nous suggérons que la viscosité volumique n'est pas adaptée pour comprendre les phénomènes mis en jeu. Nous proposons alors d'étudier le comportement rhéologique des bitumes en films minces (de quelques dizaines de micromètres). Dans un deuxième temps, nous avons employé une approche tribologique afin de mieux appréhender le comportement des systèmes liant/granulats. Des tests de frottement menés sur avec des matériaux modèles en présence de bitume révèlent qu'en régime de lubrification hydrodynamique, la réponse en frottement n'est pas sensible à l'additivation des bitumes mais à la température. En régime de lubrification limite, notre étude a montré que la réponse en frottement dépend de la température, des matériaux et de l'additivation des bitumes. Enfin, une approche interfaciale indique que les additifs modifient peu la tension superficielle du bitume et le mouillage des granulats dans l'air. En milieu aqueux, l'effet tensioactif de certains additifs est clairement mis en évidence par des essais de détermination de tension interfaciale et par des essais de mouillage. La combinaison de ces trois approches permet une meilleure compréhension des phénomènes se produisant aux niveaux des interfaces granulat/granulat et granulat/bitume. / One way to produce Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) consists in adding chemicals to bitumen. Although several! kinds of additives are available on the market the mechanisms of this technology remains still not well understood. This thesis realized within a partnership between TOTAL and the Laboratory of Tribology and Systems Dynamic is focus on three axes to get a better understanding of these mechanisms. One singularity of our approach is due to the fact that experiments were performed at industrial processing temperatures (90°C- 165°C). ln a first lime, a rheological study has shown that bitumen exhibits a Newtonian behaviour at mixing and compacting temperatures. Bitumen viscosity mainly depends on temperature but in not very affected by the chemical additivation. We suggest that the bulk rheology is not adapted to understand the phenomena which are involved and we propose to study the behaviour of thin films of few tens of microns instead. ln a second lime, a tribological approach was employed to better understand mechanisms involved in binder/aggregate systems. Friction tests were performed with model materials. Results are that the friction answer is not sensible to the presence of additives but ta temperature in hydrodynamic lubrication range. ln boundary lubrication range, the response is material-, temperature- and additive-dependant. Finally, results of an interfacial study have shown that the interfacial tension of bitumen and that the wettability of aggregates are not very sensitive ta additives when the experiments are performed in air. When performed in an aqueous medium, interfacial tension measurements and wettability tests clearly allow to reveal the surfactant behaviour of effect of some additives. The combination of the three approaches allow a better understanding of phenomena which are involved at bitumen/aggregates and aggregates/aggregates interfaces.

The inadvertent ingestion of contaminated soil is the dominant exposure route of non-volatile and semi-volatile contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Quantitative mass balance soil ingestion studies have been used to determine soil ingestion rates for use in human health risk assessments (HHRA) that can be used to predict the likelihood of adverse effects in individuals exposed to hazardous contaminants such as PAHs in contaminated soil. The Cold Lake region of Alberta is one of the three major oil sands regions of Alberta, and PAH concentrations in this oil sand region may be elevated in the atmosphere and the soil, resulting in increased exposures to PAHs. The area is home to Cold Lake First Nation who practice traditional activities and lifestyles that may put them in greater contact with soil than previous soil ingestion studies suggest. The primary objective of this research was to assess the soil ingestion rate in a group of First Nations subjects inhabiting the Cold lake region, and assess the carcinogenic risk posed by exposures to PAHs in air and soil. The study employed a quantitative mass balance tracer approach to estimate soil ingestion rates, and followed 9 subjects over a 13 day period. Soil and air samples were simultaneously collected to assess PAH contamination. The mean soil ingestion rate using Al and Si elemental tracers was 52 mg d-1, with a 90th percentile of 220 mg d-1, and a median soil ingestion rate of 37 mg d-1. These values are greater than the soil ingestion rates for HHRA recommended by Health Canada. The mean increase in excess lifetime cancer risk posed by inadvertent ingestion of soil to a First Nations’ individuals following traditional activities was 0.02 cases per 100,000 people with a 95% risk level of 0.067 cases per 100,000 people. Exposure to PAHs through inhalation posed a maximum lifetime cancer risk below 0.1 cases per 100,000, people. Thus, this study found no appreciable increase in excess lifetime associated with PAH exposure of First Nations’ people in the Cold Lake region.

The aim of this master thesis is to explore the significance of the growing oil sands production for the economy of the province of Alberta as well as the whole of Canada. Parts of this thesis will outline current global energetic situation with the emphasis on oil production and explain the importance of seeking new alternative sources which includes the renewable energy as well as the unconventional oil and gas. With the waning amount of easily accessible light oil reserves it is likely that the unconventional oil resources where the production is both energetically and financially challenging will become more and more important.

The aim of diploma thesis is to design mixture SMA LA 8 with crumb rubber modified bitumen (9,9 %) and a modifier additive TecRoad (22 %) and the test of water sensitivity, the resistance to permanent deformation and to frost cracking, the determination of the stiffness and fatigue characteristics. Test methods are described and evaluated.

Asphalt binder ageing and experiences with various ageing methods from abroad are described in this thesis. The practical part deals with the RTFOT aging and with the influence of the duration of this test. The comparison of test results is conducted before and after the aging by values of needle penetration, elastic recovery, softening point and resilience tests are evaluated and compared.

Canadian bitumen is mainly transported in a diluted form via pipeline and train, all posing a risk as they can lead to the release of diluted bitumen (dilbit) in the environment. In the summer of 2018, a collaborative large-scale field experiment was conducted at the International Institute for Sustainable Development - Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA), a world-renowned aquatic research facility. The research objectives of the Boreal lake Oil Release Experiment by Additions to Limnocorrals (BOREAL) project were to understand the fate, behaviour, and potential toxic effects of dilbit in a freshwater Boreal lake to inform evidence-based management strategies for the transport of dilbit. A range of controlled dilbit spills was performed in seven 10 m diameter limnocorrals (~100,000 L of water) resulting in environmentally realistic dilbit:water dilutions ranging from 1:69,200 to 1:504, representing the upper half of the distribution of oil spill sizes in North America in the last decade. Additionally, two limnocorrals not treated with dilbit were studied as controls. This thesis identifies the bioaccumulating compounds derived from naturally weathered dilbit in adult giant floater mussels (Pyganodon grandis), to determine the rates at which they were accumulated and excreted. More specifically, the bioaccumulation potential and toxicokinetic parameters of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) and various metals were assessed in mussels exposed ex situ for 41 days (25 days of exposure and 16 days of depuration) to water from the limnocorrals. These compounds have shown to be toxic, carcinogenic, and mutagenic to aquatic organisms. Mussels exposed to dilbit-contaminated water experienced significantly greater TPACs concentrations (0.40 – 0.90 µg L-1, n=12) compared to mussels from the Control (0.017 µg L-1, n=4). Furthermore, dilbit-contaminated water had a higher proportion of alkylated PACs compared to their parent counterpart, demonstrating petrogenic PAC profiles. We detected significantly greater TPACs concentrations in mussels exposed to dilbit-contaminated water (25.92 – 27.79 µg g-1, ww Lipid, n=9, at day 25 of the uptake phase) compared to mussels from the Control (average of 2.62 ± 1.95 µg g-1, ww Lipid; ±SD, n=17). Alkylated PACs represented 96.4 ± 1.8%, ±SD, n=12 of TPACs in mussels from dilbit-contaminated treatments at day 25 of the uptake phase, indicating the importance of conducting a more inclusive assessment of petrochemical mixtures as most studies only focus on parent PACs. From first-order one-compartment models derived from nonlinear curve fitting of the accumulation phase or sequential modelling method, uptake (0.66 – 24.65 L g-1 day-1, n=87) and depuration (0.012 – 0.37 day-1, n=87) kinetic rate constants, as well as bioconcentration factors (log values from 3.85 – 6.12 L kg-1, n=87) for the 29 PACs that bioaccumulated in mussels suggested that alkylated PACs have greater bioaccumulation potential compared to their parent PAC counterpart. Results from this study also demonstrated that giant floater mussels could be used to biomonitor PAC contamination following oil spills as PACs accumulated in mussel tissue and were still present following the 16 day depuration phase. The results of this study are the largest, most comprehensive set of toxicokinetic and bioaccumulation information of PACs (44 analytes) in freshwater mussels obtained to date. Metal contamination following the controlled dilbit spill was minimal, but mussels exposed to water contaminated with naturally weathered dilbit experienced elevated concentrations of dissolved zinc (30.26 – 38.26 µg L-1, n=12) compared to the mussels in the uncontaminated water (6.75 ± 3.31 µg L-1, n=4), surpassing the Canadian water quality guidelines for the protection of aquatic life. However, it is not clear if dilbit contamination caused elevated zinc concentrations in the water as other factors, such as limnocorral building materials and/or galvanized minnow traps used in the limnocorrals, could have contributed to zinc contamination. Nonetheless, giant floater mussels did not accumulate zinc in their tissues.

SMHI:s data tyder på att temperaturen i Sverige kommer att öka. Dessutom kommer det framtida temperaturintervallet att vara mindre. Dessa två beräknade förändringar kommer att påverka den dimensioneringsprocess som idag används för vägar. Idag tar trafikverket hänsyn till temperaturen i ett bitumenbundet lager samt klimatperiodernas längder och båda dessa variabler kommer att förändras med tiden. Detta kommer att påverka val av material, materialåtgång vid nybyggnation, underhållsåtgärder samt vägens beräknade livslängd och kraven på de bitumen som skall används i framtiden. Förutom detta kan trafikverket behöva se över ett antal tabellvärden samt den klimatzonsindelning organisationen för närvarande använder sig utav. / The data from Sweden’s meteorological and hydrological institute suggests the temperatures in Sweden will rise in the future. It also suggests that the future temperature intervals will be smaller than they are today. This will affect the methods that are used for designing roads. Currently Trafikverket takes into account the temperature of the asphalt and the number of days of a specific climate period when considering climate temperature. Both these variables will have to be checked and possibly redone. This change will affect several areas that are important for the design, among these are the choice of materials, the amount of materials used, the cost of building and maintaining a road, a roads expected lifetime and the requirements for future asphalt layers. Add to that Trafikverket will probably need to recheck several table values and the climate zones that the organization uses today.

Increasing the content of Reclaimed Asphalt in hot asphalt mixtures is one of the current issues in road construction, to which society's attention is paid. The higher content of Reclaimed Asphalt brings higher technological demands not only for the production of asphalt mixture plants, but also for the handling of materials in general. The benefit for higher demands on asphalt mixture production is the subsequent reduction of the environmental burden associated with the construction of road infrastructure caused by the mining industry and use of natural resources. The dissertation is focused on studying recycling agents which are used in the production of asphalt mixtures containing Reclaimed Asphalt. Emphasis is put on comparing the properties of recycled binders with paving bitumen and binders from Reclaimed Asphalts whereas the effect of repeated recycling is taken into account. A large part of the thesis is devoted to the design of the optimal dosage of recycling agents. Certain findings were used to draw a methodology describing the design of dosing of these agents. At the same time, the properties and behaviour of the recycling agents themselves were evaluated.

No / In contrast with artefactual studies of long-distance trade and exchange in South Asia during the Prehistoric and Early Historic periods (Ardika et al . 1993; Gogte 1997; Krishnan and Coningham 1997; Tomber 2000; Gupta et al . 2001; Ford et al . 2005), few scientifically orientated analyses have focused on artefacts from the region¿s Historic period. During excavations at the ancient city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, a number of buff ware ceramics with a putative organic coating on the interior were recovered (Coningham 2006). Dated stylistically to between the third and ninth centuries AD , analysis of the coatings using gas chromatography¿mass spectrometry (GC¿MS) and stable isotope analysis (carbon and deuterium) confirmed that the coatings are bitumen¿an organic product associated with petroleum deposits. There are no known bitumen sources in Sri Lanka, and biomarker distributions and isotopic signatures suggest that the majority of the samples appear to have come from a single bitumen source near Susa in Iran. The relationship between the bitumen coatings and the vessels is discussed, and it is suggested that the coatings were used to seal permeable ceramic containers to allow them to transport liquid commodities. This study enhances our knowledge of networks of trade and exchange between Sri Lanka and western Asia during Historic times.