Hydrophilic Gilsonite Nanoparticles

Several experiments were performed to characterize and evaluate the performance of the hydrophilic gilsonite. To find the functional groups of the hydrophilic and natural gilsonite, Fourier-transform infrared spectra (FTIR) were taken from 4000 to 650 cm-1 with a Perkin-Elmer Spectrum 2 instrument. Also, to identify the crystalline phases of the natural and hydrophilic gilsonite, XRD patterns were recorded by X-ray diffractometer (X’Pert Pro, Panalytical) using a Cu anode at 40 keV and 40 mA in 2Ɵ range of 5-80o with step size 0.026o. The surface morphologies of the natural and hydrophilic gilsonite were recorded using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM, MIRA3, TE-SCAN). After ball milling, the particle-size distribution (PSD) of the hydrophilic gilsonite was measured at 25oC using a dynamic light scattering technique (Malvern, zetasizer µV). In addition, the thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) of the hydrophilic and natural gilsonite were carried out on an STA 1500 thermo-analyzer (Rheometric Scientific) under nitrogen atmosphere and heating rate of 10°C min-1