Asphalt

Abstract

Asphalt is made from petroleum. Crude petroleum (right out of the ground) contains natural bitumens or asphaltenes, which generally are called asphalt. Asphalt has been used throughout recorded history. [ACS] It is a thermoplastic material (meaning it gets soft when warm), which is recovered from distillation bottoms, sometimes referred to as still bottoms (the gunk left over after crude petroleum has been distilled into gasoline and other useful products).