%0 Journal Article
%@ 1337-7027
%A Fadairo, A. S. A.
%A Adeyemi, Gbadegesin
%A Bello, Kelani
%A Olafuyi, Olalekan
%D 2014
%F eprints:9720
%J Petroleum & Coal
%K Softening point; Nigeria bitumen; Penetration index; Jetropha oil; Paving road.
%N 4
%P 354-358
%T THE USE OF JATROPHA OIL FOR DETERMINING THE SOFTENING POINT OF NIGERIA BITUMEN SAMPLES
%U http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/9720/
%V 56
%X The occurrence of bitumen deposits in Nigeria has been estimated to be about 42 billion tones; almost twice the amount of existing reserves of crude petroleum” Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC).For proper planning of extraction techniques for heavy crude oil such as Nigeria bitumen or oil sand, softening point is a paramount parameter need to be estimated for determining the temperatures at which bitumen will melt and when the slug start to flow into production systems.  The softening point (SP) and penetration index (PI) of bitumen from parts of south-western Nigeria are important properties needed for better design and optimization of the upgrading process of Nigerian bitumen. This study was carried out to design a cost effective and efficient softening point tester to classify bitumen into grades using jatropha oil as fluid bath instead of water.  Jatropha oil has higher specific heat capacity and dissipates heat faster than water. It takes shorter time to heat and soften a sample of bitumen compares to water. This saves time and cost as energy generation cost less. Use of Jatropha as bath fluid in the areas of processing bitumen would assist the operator to achieve higher output, less heat for softening and produces a higher softening point.