MINING AND EXTRACTING

The crude asphalt is mined using trench-digging machines. When excavated, the crude asphalt is loaded into trolley buckets, which are pulled by cable along a trestle and dumped into open topped vessels or separation stills for extracting.

Extraction process is a process of dissolving, whereas Buton asphalt rocks in certain shapes are dissolved in proper solvent, then the mixture is separated or re-taken using certain technology until asphalt materials remain and are further processed as according to market's specification demand. Such extraction technology uses an invention achieved in laboratory in order to discover the “LEACHING DIAGRAM” formula.

Separation of solvent entity from solid materials is perfectly done using vibrated thin-film evaporator. Solid materials, after being specified, can be used for Asbuton products such as Buton Epure, Instant Bitumen, BFO, etc., while the solvent/leaching entity is recycled and used for next extraction process.

Present study shows that using an extraction process to produce pure bitumen from asbuton is technically viable option. Counter cross flow solvent used as an agent to drive simple liquid-solid separation in extraction process, called the "COUNTER CURRENT LEACHING" process, is proved capable of producing various grades of bitumen to meet market demand. One of the advantages using this process is its insensitivity to feed various size of asbuton feed stock, so that the process can avoid unnecessary requirement of extensive crushing and blending equipments to provide a specific feed stock