US Patent Issued to Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University on June 30 for "Air-blown bitumen using grafted silica" (American, Chinese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,668,542, issued on June 30, was assigned to Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University (Scottsdale, Ariz.).

"Air-blown bitumen using grafted silica" was invented by Elham Fini (Phoenix) and Saba Shariati (Shenzhen, China).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A modified bitumen composition includes bitumen and a multiplicity of silica particles. Each silica particle is coupled to an acid component. Treating a modified bitumen includes contacting the modified bitumen with a flow of air and removing the flow of air after a length of time when a penetration grade of the bitumen decreases to a specified value."

The patent was fi...