Bitumen, any of various naturally occuring mixtures of hydrocarbons with their non-metallic derivatives. Crude petroleum, asphalt and tar are bitumens, which are characteristically dark brown or black and which contain little nitrogen, oxygen or sulphur. Commercially the term bitumen refers chiefly to hydrocarbons in a solid or semi-solid state, but in a wider sense it refers to all natural hydrocarbons, which may also occur in a liquid or gasses state. Bitumen distributed in various location throughout the world, is found in all geological bitumen was the Roman name for an asphlat which is used in binder road construction. It is an extremely viscous liquid at a ambient temperature and hard to use. Bitumen can be converted into a workable state :

(1) Heating

Suitable for expensive and larger project or jobs and need equipment for heating, storing and applying. Normally for semi-grounting work using a hot bitumen distributor.

(2) Cutback Asphalt

The petroleum solvents used in liquefying the bitumen Cutback must be added with adhesion agents, that is why it is more costly or expensive.

(3) Bitumen Emulsion

Two general areas of bitumen emulsion applications are tack coating and prime coating