Gilsonite or also known as Natural Asphalt

In the past few years Iran has become a major exporter of Gilsonite. Iran has some of the rrichest mines of Gilsonite which can be used in many industries including road construction and to produce paint, polish and insulation of tanks and tubes.

Gilsonite or Natural Bitumen is also known as Natural Ashphalt, Asphaltine, or Asphaltom and is soluble in petroleum asphalt solvents. Gilsonite is used in hardening oil products and is easily converted to powder form.

 Gilsonite, Natural Bitumen or natural asphalt is a Non-hazardous, naturally occurring hydrocarbon resin that is similar in appearance to coal or

hard asphalt.

Iranian Gilsonite is the other brand for the mineral known as natural bitumen which is found in Kermanshah and Gilane Gharb located in Iran and also found in Utah in the United States, but can be obtained from Iran at a fraction of the price.

Gilsonite primarily is usedin dark-colored printing inks and paints, oil well drilling mud and cements, asphalt modifiers,foundry sands additives and a wide range of chemical products.

Uses

Gilsonite is used in news inks and heat set and gravure inks. Various concentrations of Gilsonite Resin are used to manufacture other special inks with superior gloss. Some grades of Gilsonite are also suitable ingredients in found in black jet inks used by printers.

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The use of Gilsonite in Oil

Iranian Gilsonite is used in drilling mud fluids and oil well cementing. The addition of

Specially-treated Gilsonite to water-based drilling fluids minimizes entire washouts by

stabilizing shales, and sealing of highly permeable sands while reducing torque

and drag.  By adding Gilsonite to oil wells cement one reduces slurry weight without loss of

Compressive strength and acts as an effective bridging and plugging agent to seal fractures

in weak structures.

Gilsonite in Asphalt and Road Paving

Iranian Gilsonite is used as a performance-enhancing agent for asphalt mixes. By using Gilsonite one can virtually replace, or complement, the use of SBS polymers in modified asphalts and lower their cost. Gilsonite can improve performance under stress and can reduce deformation caused by reduced temperature susceptibility and increased resistance to water stripping.

Physical propertles of Gilsonite

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