Characterization of Bituminous Compounds by Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC)

Abstract

Gel permeation chromatography is applied to the qualitative and quantitative characterization of asphalt, asphaltenes and maltenes. The nature of their molecular size distributions, micellar dimensions, and degree of aromatic polycondensation are described. The resultant data are used to provide insight into the nature of associative processes involving these materials.