asphaltene
asphaltene noun: any of the dark organic constituents of crude oils and bitumen that are soluble in aromatic solvents but not in aliphatic ones; they are polycyclic aromatic compounds (composed of fused benzene rings) with aliphatic side chains.
Noun
asphaltene (plural asphaltenes)
- Any of the dark organic constituents of crude oils and bitumen that are soluble in aromatic solvents but not in aliphatic ones; they are polycyclic aromatic compounds (composed of fused benzene rings) with aliphatic side chains
- In the deasphalter the more polar asphaltenes form a second liquid phase which effectively agglomerates the solids in the oil feed.1979, Perry Nowacki, Coal liquefaction processes - Volume 131, page 157
Forms of asphaltene
| plural | asphaltenes |
|---|
Origin of asphaltene
From asphalt + -ene (“benzene”).
Questions about asphaltene
- What does asphaltene mean?
- Asphaltene means any of the dark organic constituents of crude oils and bitumen that are soluble in aromatic solvents but not in aliphatic ones; they are polycyclic aromatic compounds (composed of fused benzene rings) with aliphatic side chains.
- What part of speech is asphaltene?
- Asphaltene is a noun.
- What is the plural of asphaltene?
- The plural of asphaltene is asphaltenes.
Words near asphaltene in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: asphaltene (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “asphaltene.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/asphaltene. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.