MINING
AND REFINING
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 refining.
The refining operation is essentially
one of dehydration, which leaves the vital polar constituents
in the refined material. This is carried out by heating the
crude asphalt to temperatures of about 325 degrees Fahrenheit
or(163 Degrees Celsius) in large open- topped tanks or stills,
each still is capable of holding approximately 100 tonnes.
After screening, the asphalt now known
as “Trinidad Refined Asphalt”, “Dried Asphalt”, or “Epure”---
is poured, for export, into specially treated hardboard drums,
each weighing approximately 235 kilos, . Standard delivery is
by 20 and 40 foot containers.
END
