Water based muds present a problem that oil based systems do not: gilsonite is a hydrocarbon, and hydrocarbons are not soluble in water. Adding untreated gilsonite to a WBM gives you a suspended solid, not a functioning additive. The answer is sulfonation — a chemical treatment that makes the material water dispersible while keeping the […]
Gilsonite is used as a fluid loss control additive, or FLC, in oil based mud. Its high softening point — 160 °C and above — delivers over 50% fluid loss reduction compared with other additives, and it survives conditions where most mud additives do not. In synthetic based muds it can cut cost by up to […]
Gilsonite Chemical Characterization Gilsonite Chemical Characterization Gilsonite is a complex system of different constituents, made of hydrocarbons and heteroatoms. After fractionation of the Gilsonite by specific solvents, four main chemical families are obtained: saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes. The association of asphaltene sheets (highly polycondensed pseudo monomers of a carbon black-bone, chemical functions, and heteroatoms surrounded […]
Gilsonite is a naturally occurring solid hydrocarbon — a high-purity asphaltite rich in asphaltenes and nitrogen compounds, registered under CAS number 12002-43-6. It is glossy black, brittle, low in sulfur and ash, and soluble in aromatic and aliphatic solvents as well as petroleum asphalt. Buyers also encounter it as natural bitumen, mineral bitumen, natural asphalt, […]
gilsonite history Gilsonite history Gilsonite or Natural Bitumen was first discovered in the United States of America in the 19th century. It’s confirmed that the Native Americans who lived in the state of Utah were familiar with this material, yet there was neither commercial nor scientific use of it until the pioneers entered the Continent. […]
