Cationic bitumen emulsion

GlobeCore manufactures highly efficient cationic bitumen emulsion production systems.

The process of emulsion preparation is essentially the grinding of bitumen with water and emulsifier. Therefore, the emulsifier is one of the most important components of bitumen emulsions, which directly influences the quality and characteristics of the product. A surfactant is used as emulsifier in production of water-bitumen emulsion. By chemical nature, surfactants are divided into several types, depending on the charge of its particles. Since water bitumen emulsions are used intensively as binding and film-forming material in construction, two types of emulsifiers are used: anionic and cationic.

The difference is that anionic bitumen emulsions are negatively charged, while the cationic emulsions are positively charged. For certain reasons, application of cationic emulsions is preferred in construction and repairs of modern roads. Despite the fact that bitumen contains various particles which contribute to the charge of the droplets of produced emulsion, the emulsifier is the determining factor.

Most of the fillers are negatively charged, with charged particles on the surface. Therefore, positively charged cationic bitumen emulsions are attracted to the particles of the filler, creating a uniform structure with maximum efficiency. Also, cationic water bitumen emulsions rarely require any additives for improved adhesion, since the emulsifier also takes care of that.

Unlike anionic bitumen emulsions, which only work if mixed with alkaline minerals, cationic emulsion are more versatile and interact quite well with minerals of both alkaline and acidic nature.

The amount of emulsifier applied influences emulsion breakdown rate, i.e. the time until the bitumen precipitating from the emulsion, returns to its original state.