US Patent No. 10,550,329 B2: Energy Efficient Method for Recovering Oil from Asphalt Waste utilizing Bioremediation.

Energy Efficient Method for Recovering Oil from Asphalt Waste using bioremediation of oil. US Patent No. 10,550,329 was awarded on 4h February 2020.

Waste asphalt is generated globally every time a road is built. Some countries dump the waste with other solid waste even though it is not biodegradable. In the US alone, more than 75 million tons of waste asphalt is generated annually and much of it is re-used by mixing the waste with a new binder and used on the roads once again. In Europe, this practice is not acceptable. They pile up the waste in isolated spots. There is no acceptable method for recycling asphalt waste. The current patent describes a process for recycling asphalt waste at room temperature in contrast with the current practices that require extreme heat. The method is based on a combination of bioremediation product VaporRemed and a chemical accelerator to produce No. 4 fuel oil. The link attached contents the characteristics of the oil generated by this process.

The fuel is an additional source for revenue and the process can be scaled up to meet large volumes of waste. The process can also be used for producing fuel oil from oil sands in an environment-friendly and cost-effective manner.