Asphalt petrol stain - How to remove fuel stain

[Digger321]

just recently had asphalt laid (<3months) and last night had a petrol spillage of about 1sqft onto it

what should i do? i've spoken to the original contractor and he says it'll evaporate, is that true?

immediatley after i washed and brushed the spill down with soapy water but it has left a rough edge and a mark,

is there anything i can do apart from dig up the affected area and replace it?

[TarmacLady]

This may take a couple of treatments, but put a layer of plain clay kitty litter (unscented, and not the posh clumping stuff -- standard-issue clay) over the spot and let it rest over night...sweep it up and wash again with soapy water (use a heavy-duty degreaser -- something designed for floors or commercial use -- not the gentle-on-your-hands washing-up soap from the kitchen).

Let it dry and see how it looks -- the oil gets down into the pores of the tarmac, so it sometimes takes a couple of treatments for the stain to work its way up again. Patience is the key word here...

[Digger321]

thanks tarmaclady, much appreciated.

i'll let u know how i get on
cheers

[lutonlagerlout]

ashphalt is pretty rare for driveways are you sure its not bitmac??
tarmac ladys advice sounds good ,you didnt catch a fuel line on a gate keep by any chance did you???
we installed a big block paved drive a few years ago ,and the plumbers came through the gates and their fuel line snagged the gate stop,result =-==> replace 20 m of blocks soaked in diesel

cheers tony

[Digger321]

the contractor said it was asphalt, though after a bit of looking the drive looks live the HRA with red coated chippings on the below link
http://www.pavingexpert.com/tarmac03.htm

whats the best product to use to seal the drive?

cheers

D

[Dave_L]

I'd be suprised if your residential driveway was HRA.........

[Digger321]

no seriously, it's exactly the same as the HRA looks on the link with the red stone chippings

any ideas how to seal it?
does the tarmacLadys advice still apply with HRA?

cheers

[TarmacLady]

Sorry -- I try to be vigilant, but I do trip up occasionally -- asphalt is the commonly-used term here in the Colonies -- even though it's technically the same as what you lot refer to as bitmac.

Digger, the advice should be the same, regardless -- the aim is to absorb the oil from the surface, then scrub away the stubborn bits.

[lutonlagerlout]

i kinda thought asphalt was what they use on roof terraces etc. quite a specialised job as its very very hot and theres not a lot of stone in it??
can someone put me right?
cheers tony

[Dave_L]

Asphalt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Asphalt is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits. Asphalt is composed almost entirely of bitumen. There is some disagreement amongst chemists regarding the structure of asphalt, but it is most commonly modeled as a colloid, with asphaltenes as the dispersed phase and maltenes as the continuous phase.

Asphalt is sometimes confused with tar, which is an artificial material produced by the destructive distillation of organic matter. Tar is also predominantly composed of bitumen, but the bitumen content of tar is typically lower than that of asphalt. Tar and asphalt have very different engineering properties.

Asphalt can be separated from the other components in crude oil (such as naphtha, gasoline and diesel) by the process of fractional distillation, usually under vacuum conditions. A better separation can be achieved by further processing of the heavier fractions of the crude oil in a de-asphalting unit, which uses either propane or butane in a supercritical phase to dissolve the lighter molecules which are then separated. Further processing is possible by "blowing" the product: namely reacting it with oxygen. This makes the product harder and more viscous.

Natural deposits of asphalt include Lake Asphalts (primarily from the Pitch Lake in Trinidad and Tobago and Bermudez Lake in Venezuela), Gilsonite, the Dead Sea in Israel, and Tar Sands.

Asphalt is rather hard to transport in bulk (it hardens unless kept very hot) so it is sometimes mixed with diesel oil or kerosene before shipping. Upon delivery, these lighter materials are separated out of the mixture. This mixture is often called bitumen feedstock, or BFS. Some dump trucks route the hot engine exhaust through pipes in the dump body to keep the material warm.

The largest use of asphalt is for making asphalt concrete for road surfaces, which accounts for approximately 80% of the asphalt consumed in the United States. Roofing shingles account for most of the remaining asphalt consumption. Other uses include cattle sprays, fence post treatments, and waterproofing for fabrics.

While Americans are accustomed to thinking about recycling their newspapers and beverage containers, the most widely recycled product in terms of both percentage and tonnage is actually asphalt road surfaces. According to a report issued by the Federal Highway Administration and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 80 percent of the asphalt from road surfaces' that is removed each year during widening and resurfacing projects is reused as part of new roads, roadbeds, shoulders and embankments.

In the ancient middle east, natural asphalt deposits were used for mortar between bricks and stones, ship caulking, and waterproofing. The Persian word for asphalt is mumiya, which may be the source of the English word mummy.

[TarmacLady]

It's all a matter of semantics -- over here, asphalt is the operative word, even though it's technically closer to the stuff you lot call bitmac. (Your wiki is correct from an American standpoint, by the way.)

Asphalt and bitumen all come from the same raw materials so aren't all that different *chemically*-- but it's treated and processed in different ways. Asphalt for a roof is treated to be softer, so that as it heats, it flows back down into the cracks and fissures that form with the expansion and contraction cycles from weathering.

Paving asphalt is treated to be much harder, and to have a much higher melt point -- being soft and flowy is good for a roof, but first class rubbish for a car park -- the girls sink into it with their high heels, and it tracks all over everything -- and power steering peels it all up in spots.

[geoffdance]

Hi,

if the fuel spill is petrol it will evaporate and you should be ok. If it's diesel it will damage the bitmac. Detergents and cat litter are good, but industrial strength degreasers will also damage the bitmac - the bitumen binder is dissolved by degreasers.

For sealing tarmac, a bitumen based sealant such as Liquid Road or Masterseal will work a treat. TarmacLady might know this stuff. There are one or two UK contractors using this US import.

Geoff

[bobbi o]

you dont see a lot of asphalt driveways,as its more expensive and harder to hand-lay.HRA 15/10 would be the correct mix for a light traffic driveway installation,which is a 15% stone content of 10mm stone.
petrol will evaporate from the surface in time,and shouldnt have any lasting damage as long as its not trafficed during this time.

[geoffdance]

From my ISpy book of road surfacings, I got the following.
Asphalts in general have a very high proportion of fines smaller than 2.36mm, and aggregate larger than 10mm, whereas macadams in general have fewer fines, and a hence higher void content. Macadams are often water permeable due to the voids, asphalts are not.

Also, most critically, the bitumen in asphalt is very low "pen". Hot rolled asphalt is about 50 pen, mastic asphalts 15-25 pen. For bitmacs, it is 100-300 pen.

Asphalts are (apparently) much harder to lay, because of the high fines contents and the increased temps needed to keep it workable.

Anybody else able to come up with an easy to understand definition. I tend to misuse asphalt/ tarmac/ bitmac and just hope that no-one notices.

Geoff

[bobhughes]

Found this glossary on Hanson's website

aggregate
Broken stone, slag, gravel, sand and the like which when held together by binding agents, forms a substantial part of such material as concrete, asphalt, coated macadam etc. Aggregates are described as "coarse" or "fine" according to whether they are retained on or passed by a sieve of a specified aperture size. Unfortunately, the separating sieve varies for different materials e.g. concrete 5mm, coated macadam 3.35mm, asphalt 2.36mm. The term aggregate is also used as a loose term to describe any quarried or dug material which has been processed.

aggregate blocks
Building blocks for housing made from crushed rock, sand, cement and water.

all-in ballast
A loose term given to material containing a proportion of all sizes as obtained direct from the pit, or sea river (maximum size approximately 300mm, more usually 50-75mm down.) Sometimes sold as fill; from pits will sometimes meet the grading specification for Type 2 GSB with no further treatment. A term also applied to crushed rock.

asphalt
With the advent of European specifications there will be some new definitions. The most important of these is the use of the term ASPHALT as a generic description of all types of bituminous mixtures, i.e. both coated macadam and rolled asphalt. All of the European Standards will refer to asphalt in those instances when British Standards would refer to bituminous mixtures. The terms rolled asphalt, coated macadam and asphaltic concrete (in Europe) can and will be retained but not within CEN standards.
NB: When referring to asphalt to BS594 it is important to use Hot Rolled Asphalt.

asphaltic concrete
A dense continuously graded macadam type bituminous material used for airfield construction in the UK but widely throughout the rest of the world for road construction also. Much of the stability and strength is derived from the use of a continuous grading and mechanical interlock of crushed and therefore angular coarse aggregate. Binder (often 100 pen) acts more as a compaction lubricant than a contribution of strength. A mix design procedure is used to determine optimum binder content with parameters used to ensure maximum stability and mix density are achieved. Grading specification and binder content tolerances are tighter than for macadams and asphalts so production control has to be good.

bitumen
A viscous liquid or solid material black or dark brown in colour, having adhesive properties, consisting essentially of hydrocarbons, derived from petroleum for occurring in natural asphalt and soluble in carbon disulphide.
Straight run bitumen - obtained after the final stage of distillation of crude oil of a suitable type. Normal grades used - 50 pen (hard) to 300 pen (soft).
Cut-back bitumen - bitumen whose viscosity has been reduced by the addition of a suitable volatile dilutant or flux. Normal grades used - 50, 100, 200 secs.

capping
A material used as part of the earthworks at below sub-base level in road construction. The intent is to utilise cheap locally available material to reduce the use of more expensive sub-base material.
Department of Transport (DoT) Specification for Highway Works specifies a coarse (6.F.1) and fine grade (6.F.2) Clause 613). Crushed top rock, scalpings, as-dug sand & gravel are examples of material which should be suitable. The accent should be on simplicity of production in line with the low cost concept of the material. As an alternative, cement stabilisation (Clause 614) or lime stabilisation (Clause 615) are also permitted.

cement
A compound of lime ground to powder which when mixed with water hardens rapidly. Used for binding together aggregates in concrete and sand in mortar.

cement bound granular material (CBM)
These are cement bound materials described in the Highways Specification for use in sub-base and road base layers. They are of low cement content and strength compared with structural concretes. Mixing is generally carried out centrally, using a forced action or paddle type mixer to ensure correct dispersion of the small quantity of cement used. The mixed material appears little wetter than Type 1 material and is compacted similarly with vibrating rollers.

CBM 1 (Clause 1036)
This is normally only permitted for sub-base layers. Virtually any type of aggregate can be used because only a coarse limit is specified for grading. Hence, very fine sands/silt may be used providing the strength requirements are met. Mix-in-place methods are permitted, but not commonly used because of the difficulties of achieving homogeneity. To control the sulphate and swelling clay content of the aggregate a cracking/swelling test is specified.

CBM 2 (Clause 1037)
Very similar to CBM1 except that a fine grading limit is introduced. Hence the very fine sands and silts are excluded. Because the concrete strength requirement is slightly higher than for CBM1, weaker aggregates are excluded by the introduction of a 10% Fines Value.

CBM 3 (Clause 1038)
Commonly used as roadbase material. The aggregates are restricted to natural aggregates to BS882 or air cooled blastfurnace slag to BS1047. Although "all-in" or "crusher-run" materials are commonly used, there are fairly strict tolerances for grading. The concrete strength requirements are higher than for CBM2.

CBM 4 (Clause 1039)
Similar in every respect to CBM3 except that CBM4 is specified for us on very heavily trafficked roads and therefore has a higher concrete strength requirement. All CBM materials are required to be fully compacted to within 95% of the density of specimens compacted to refusal with a vibrating hammer.

chippings
Crushed angular stone fragments of single size material of nominal single size between 3 and 28mm (stretched to 40mm). Crushed rock plants normally have fairly refined systems to blend chippings and quarry fines in different proportions for a variety of uses.

coated macadam
A road material consisting of grading aggregate that has been coated with tar or bitumen or a mixture of the two and in which the intimate interlocking of the aggregate particles is a major factor in the strength of the compacted roadbase or surfacing. Because strength of macadam is derived from mechanical interlock, crushed rock is the normal choice of aggregate. Used at all layers in the road structure. Available as open texture (low fines content) or dense close texture (high fines content). All grades of binder, from a very soft to hard, used. Average binder content of macadams 5.0%. Normally produced on a batch or "macadam" plant.

concrete aggregate
Aggregates produced for various uses in concrete, e.g. readymix, blocks, pipes, panels etc.

crushed rock
Stone that has been broken in a mechanical crusher as part of the process of producing sized aggregate.

crusher run
The product of one or more crushers - sometimes removed from the process at a certain stage to meet a particular grading specification. The 180-100mm product of primary jaw or cone crusher can be used as fill material in very wet conditions, also in dam, embankment and sea defence work.
Sand and gravel is seldom re-blended after separation for any other reason than to produce concrete aggregate, whilst sized crushed rock (known as chippings) is re-blended for a variety of purposes.

dense tar surfacing
A hot process wearing course material consisting of aggregate, filler and road tar, in such gradings and proportions that when spread and compacted it provides a close texture impervious mixture.
DTS specified by BS5273:1975 can be 35% or 50% coarse aggregate content and either 14mm or 10mm nominal size. The hardest normally available grade of tar (54oC EVT) is used in the manufacture.
Used now only for heavy duty lorry parks such as at motorway service stations. Tar binder is less susceptible to softening to oil and fuel spillage than bitumen. Tar as a binder can be difficult to obtain, only known source Coalite (from production of smokeless fuel).

dimension stone
Stone quarried from the ground in large blocks then cut, shaped and carve to specific patterns.

filler
A fine mineral powder substantially passing the 75um sieve. Collected from the dust suppression on crushing, screening, coating plants etc or by fine grinding of aggregate. Limestone filler has wide use including animal feed, agriculture and industrial use and as a specified filler in hot rolled asphalt wearing course. At some limestone quarries fine limestone is produced to meet these requirements. Filler other than limestone or cement is not permitted by specification for use in hot rolled asphalt wearing course, if other fillers are used e.g. granite or basalt, they tend to dry the asphalt, causing embrittlement.

granular sub-base
A continuously graded granular material to DoT Specification for Highway Works, Cl.803, Type 1 and Cl.804, Type 2. Used in the sub-base layer of road construction, Type 1 which has to consist of crushed rock, slag or concrete is the superior material and is the only one permitted for major trunk roads and motorways. In limestone quarries where impact crushers are used, GSB can be manufactured as the product of one crusher with no other treatment than simple screening to remove any oversize. In igneous rock quarries the product of more than one crusher is required to meet the specification, or the GSB is produced by blending single size chippings. GSB is often required for road contracts in very large quantities (3-4000 t.p.d). This is usually above the production rate at any except limestone quarries and even then stockpiles are required to regulate the supply. In some areas too expensive to produce in igneous quarries to be competitive.

gravel
A non-coherent natural, detrital, mineral aggregate from natural disintegration of rock, consisting mainly of rounded pebbles for sub-angular rock fragments, or both. Usually occurs as part of a "sand & gravel" deposit.

hardstone
Exceptionally durable stone such as granite which is used in the top surface of roads. It improves skid resistance and prevents rutting.

heavy duty macadam
DBM50 - a dense bitumen macadam roadbase or basecourse manufactured with 50 pen bitumen. Improved stiffness than from use of 100 pen grade. Heavy Duty Macadam (HDM) - a dense bitumen macadam roadbase or basecourse manufactured with 50 pen bitumen and a filler (passing 75um) content increased by 4%. This combination improves performance over than achieved by "normal" DBM and DBm150.

hoggin
A naturally occurring mixture of sand and gravel - containing sufficient clay to hold the mixture together when compacted. It is often in the form of overburden on top of good quality sand and gravel, and will sometimes meet the Type 2 GSB specification with no further treatment, but very often too much clay present. Much used as base material in minor roads, foundations etc. on private housing developments.

hot rolled asphalt
A road material consisting of a dense mixture of mineral matter and bituminous binder and in which the mortar of fine aggregate, filler and high viscosity binder is a major factor in the performance of the compacted wearing course, basecourse or roadbase. As the strength of asphalt is derived from the stiff mortar (binder/sand/filler) the aggregate type is of little importance. In wearing course asphalt (normally 30% stone content) the greater part of the mix is sand (53%). It can be used at all layers in the road construction, i.e. roadbase, basecourse, wearing course. Normally 60% stone content is used for roadbase and basecourse and a 30% stone content for wearing course. Much asphalt wearing course now has designed binder content and has to meet a stability (strength) requirement dependent on the traffic density in terms of commercial vehicles. Such a requirement often necessitates the use of blended sand/crushed rock fine aggregate. Rock fines are also permitted by BS594. Because asphalt uses a high percentage of stiff bitumen it is expensive to produce (bitumen cost and aggregate heating costs). In consequence it is only used on heavily trafficked trunk roads and motorways where its cost can be justified. Normally produced on a semi-continuous or "asphalt" plant. Coated chippings are usually embedded into the surface of low coarse aggregate content hot asphalt to improve the surface texture and skid resistance. In consequence the chippings used should be of a high PSV and low abrasion value with good shape and size (normally 20mm size).

incinerator bottom ash (IBA)
Sometimes called fly ash, it is the granular ash which is produced after burning domestic waste in commercial incinerators. After crushing and grading, it can be used as a replacement for aggregates in concrete blocks and asphalt.

limestone
A popular and versatile stone found in many areas of the UK and ideal for construction use.

marine aggregates
Sand or gravel dredged from the sea bed for use in construction.

mortar
A mix of sand, cement and water which is used to bind together bricks and building stones.

overburden
Is the soil and superficial material overlying the rock or sand and gravel to be extracted. It can be top rock or poorer quality material, e.g. clay or soft shale, and is often sold as fill.

pit
An open shallow surface working, from which sand and gravel is excavated from its natural bed.

polished stone value (PSV)
The measure of a stone's resistance to polishing and hence skidding. High PSV stone (c65) is used to surface motorways and major roads.

porous asphalt
A special open-textured mix of asphalt which allows water to drain through it, rather than off it reducing noise and wet weather spray.

Portland stone
A quality building stone found on the island of Portland in Dorset. It adorns some of the UK's finest buildings including St Paul's Cathedral, London.

precast concrete
Concrete structures which are made in moulds at a factory and transported to construction sites for use. For example flooring, stairs, water tanks and drainage pipes.

Premix
Hanson's brand name for its ready-mixed concrete in the UK. It is among the nation's top three brands.

quarry fines
Broken stone, as crushed, which passes through the smallest screen or aperture (usually 5mm or 3.35mm).

quarry
An open surface working, from which virgin rock is extracted.
Other sizes and blends are sometimes required to meet local requirements. Crusher run material from some types of crusher will meet the Type 1 and 2 GSB specifications with no further treatment (see under GSB).

railway ballast
50mm single sized aggregate to be laid as ballast under permanent way for construction and maintenance of rail track bed. The aggregate must conform to a grading requirement and certain specifications for physical properties, the most significant of which is the Wet Attrition Test. The current specification details a Wet Attrition Value of 6 maximum for high speed tracks and this excludes most limestone.

ready-mixed concrete
Sand, aggregates, cement and water mixed at a specialist plant or in a truck mixer then delivered to construction sites.

recycled aggregates
Concrete, rock, road surfacing or bricks which have already been used but can be crushed, processed and used again.

run of quarry material
Stone blasted down from the quarry face but untreated in any way. Maximum size approximately 1m3. Sometimes sold for fill, dams, break-waters, sea defence etc.

sand
Small mineral particles from natural disintegration of rock usually of such size as will pass through a appropriate sieve* and free from appreciable quantities of clay or silt. The type of sand and its origin should be stated, e.g. pit sand, river sand, dune sand etc.
*Appropriate sieve - 5mm for concrete, 3.35mm for coated macadams, 2.36mm for asphalt. In soil mechanics sand is a size (2mm-63um) and not an aggregate type.

scalpings
Material removed to clean the run of quarry product either before or after the primary crusher - normally before. Consists of clay, muck etc. and the small flat particles from the blasted rock. Sized at either 75, 50 or 40mm down dependent on the cleanliness of the quarry and/or time of year.
This is generally a saleable material as a good class fill for minor roads, foundations etc. Often slightly more rock than necessary is left in to upgrade the product and make it saleable. In some instances price is so good as to make it uneconomic to attempt to remove the rock but this is very dependent on the quantity of material "scalped". Occasionally will meet the grading specification for Type 2 GSB with no further treatment.

screened aggregate
Sand and gravel or crushed rock which has been separated by screens into various sizes. The separated sizes will usually differ dependent on whether it is a sand and gravel pit or a crushed rock plant.
Sand and gravel usually produced to meet the requirements of BS882 (Aggregates from Natural Sources for Concrete) either as graded aggregates (40-5, 20-5, 14-5mm) or single sized (40, 20, 14, 10, 5mm). 3 fine aggregate gradings (C, M & F).
Crushed rock produced in sizes to meet the requirements of BS63 (Road Aggregates) which are 50, 40, 28, 20, 14, 10, 6.3, 3mm and 3mm to dust.

secondary aggregates
The waste products of other industries which can be used as a substitute for natural aggregates. For example incinerator bottom ash, crushed glass, china clay waste and slag.

self-compacting concrete
A special mix of Premix concrete designed for use in constricted areas where it is impossible to use conventional compacting equipment. It moves effortlessly through congested reinforcement steel and needs no vibration to achieve high strengths and excellent durability.

surface dressing
A surface maintenance treatment which seals the surface of a road and provides renewal of surface texture.
It involves application of a film of bituminous adhesive followed by an overall application of chippings of good resistance to polishing (high PSV) which are rolled in. Chipping sizes (14, 10 and 6mm) are selected in relation to the traffic the site will carry and the condition of the existing road in terms of expected chipping embedment. Chippings can be lightly coated to improve adhesion and obviate adhering fines. Clean chippings normally require washing to meet the specification (BS63) in terms of fines content. Further details of surface dressing can be obtained from TRL Publication RN39.

tar
A viscose liquid, black in colour, having adhesive properties, obtained by the destructive distillation of coal, wood, shale etc.
Road Tar - coal tar which has been treated in such a manner that it conforms to a specification defining its properties for use in road construction (BS76). Normal grades used - 34oC EVT (soft) to 54oC EVT (hard). Now little used for the production of coated materials.

thin surfacing
Special thin wearing course for road surfacing which reduces noise, skidding and wet weather spray. Hanson's Tuffgrip brand, developed with partners BP Bitumen, is one of the leading thin surfacings on the UK market.

top rock
Weathered rock overlaying and good deposits beneath. Has to be removed prior to quarrying operation. Too soft and containing too much clay and muck to be processed, but often can be sold as a very good fill material. Quality will vary and so will price obtained.

type 1
Hanson's biggest selling product in the UK. It is a mix of limestone containing particles from 40mm to dust. When compacted it forms a solid base for roads and buildings.

waterproof concrete
A mix of Premix concrete which contains special additives which enable it to be laid under water. It is used for bridge pier reinforcements and for flood protection systems.

wearing course
The top surface of a road which is made of asphalt and laid over the base course. It is made using high quality stone to improve wear and skid resistance.

wet mix macadam
Coarse and fine crushed rock or slag blended to met a grading requirement. Binding medium - water. Grading limits and moisture content (optimum +/- 0.5%) are tight, and there is a flakiness index requirement of 35 max. on the coarse aggregate.
The tight grading specification and close moisture content require blending of single sizes to a pug-mill or pan mixer which is specified for production of the material.
Wet mix is no longer specified in the Specification for Highway Works or included as an option for major trunk roads and motorways, but is still used for reconstruction and construction of lesser roads.