Fluorometric characterization of asphalts

The research presented describes the development of this technique and preliminary finding from the fluorometric characterization of raw asphalts. Fluorometric analyses have been performed on eight asphalts that were selected based on the concentrations of polar aromatics, asphaltenes and heteroatoms. However, the lack of correlation between concentration of these chemical groups and fluorescence intensity suggests that a better understanding of asphalt fluorescence may be obtained by determining the fluorescence properties of the individual chemical fractions of asphalts. The alteration of fluorescence intensity with time of exposure to blue excitation light in air has been shown to be a photochemical reaction with oxygen.