Research Article Influence of Polyphosphoric Acid on the Consistency and Composition of Formulated Bitumen: Standard Characterization and NMR Insights Catarina Varanda, 1,2 Inês Portugal, 1 Jorge Ribeiro, 2 Artur M. S. Silva, 3 and Carlos M. Silva 1 1 Department of Chemistry, CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal 2 Galp Energia, Refinaria de Matosinhos, Rua Belchior Robles, 4450-802 Lec ¸a da Palmeira, Portugal 3 Department of Chemistry, QOPNA, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal Correspondence should be addressed to Inˆ es Portugal; inesport@ua.pt and Carlos M. Silva; carlos.manuel@ua.pt Received 11 April 2016; Revised 28 June 2016; Accepted 29 June 2016 Academic Editor: Adam Voelkel Copyright © 2016 Catarina Varanda et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Over the recent years, bitumen modifcation with polymers, acids, or mineral fllers has gained relevance to adjust its performance properties. Tis work reports the use of polyphosphoric acid (PPA) for the modifcation of formulated bitumen. With this objective, an in-depth literature review on PPA modifcation was frstly performed. Subsequently, fve individual refnery components were selected for the preparation of bitumen blends, namely, asphaltic residue, vacuum residue, and three lube oils extracts. Seven binary/ternary bitumen blends were prepared and then treated with PPA. Aferwards, the fve components and the unmodifed and PPA-modifed bitumen were characterized by standard methods (penetration, sofening point, and penetration index), SARA analysis, elemental analysis, and 31 P and 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Te results evidenced higher asphaltenes and lower saturates/resins contents in PPA-modifed bitumen. Te NMR data suggest that the parafnic chains became longer, the content of condensed aromatics increased, more substituted aromatic structures appeared, and -hydrogen in aromatic structures diminished. Tese fndings disclosed the improved consistency and oxidation stability of PPA-modifed bitumen blends. 1. Introduction Te European Committee for Standardization defnes bitu- men as a virtually nonvolatile, adhesive, and waterproofng dark brown viscous organic material derived from crude oil or present in natural asphalt [1]. Due to its binding and hydrophobic properties, bitumen is commonly used for the construction of pavements and waterproof systems [2, 3]. Bitumen properties are related to its composition, which in turn depends strongly on the type and origin of the crude oil. However, the precise identifcation of the molecular composition and structure of bitumen is almost impossible; therefore, they are ofen characterized by fractionation tech- niques [3, 4]. For instance, the SARA method is based on sequential chromatographic separation of bitumen compo- nents into four generic groups according to their polarity and solubility, namely, saturates (S), aromatics (A), resins (R), and asphaltenes (A) [3, 5, 6]. Commonly, the saturates fraction contains linear and branched alkanes eluted with a parafnic solvent (e.g., n-hexane), the aromatics fraction is constituted mainly by alkylated C5 and C6 cyclic structures eluted with a moderately polar solvent (e.g., toluene), the resins are alkylated and cycloalkylated structures with 2- 3 aromatic rings (e.g., eluted with tetrahydrofuran), and asphaltenes are heavier aromatic polycyclic structures [3]. Moreover, bitumen contains heteroatoms (such as sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen) normally embedded in the molecular structure of the aromatic rings [4, 7]. Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Analytical Methods in Chemistry Volume 2016, Article ID 2915467, 16 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/2915467