Diesel, Electric, Gas or External Boiler? How to Choose the Heating Method for Bitumen Equipment

Almost every bitumen machine we build — storage tanks, drum and bag decanters, emulsion and modified-bitumen plants — comes down to one question before anything else: how will it be heated? The steel is similar; the heating method decides the purchase price, the running cost, and whether the machine even works on your site. This guide walks through the four heating approaches we supply, the factors that should drive the decision, and which Feiteng equipment fits each case.

The Four Heating Methods at a Glance

1. External Thermal Oil Boiler Heating

Here the machine has no heat source of its own — hot thermal oil (typically 200–250 °C) is piped in from a separate thermal oil boiler. This makes the machine itself the least expensive to buy, and it is the smart choice when one boiler can serve several consumers at once: a decanter, storage tanks and heat-traced pipelines all running off the same hot-oil loop.

Externally heated units in our range include the DLT and ZDLT drum decanters, the DKLR bag decanter and the DL storage tanks. The catch: if you do not already have a boiler, you must budget for one, and sizing it correctly matters — see our guide on calculating thermal oil heater capacity. Once you add a boiler to a single small machine, a self-heating unit is often the cheaper total package.

2. Diesel Burner (Self-Heating)

A self-heating machine carries its own diesel burner and combustion system, so it needs nothing but fuel and modest electrical power to run. This is the method for remote road projects, sites without a boiler, and anywhere grid power is weak or unreliable. Our self-heating units — the YDST and automatic ZYDST drum decanters, the YDLR bag melter, the YDL-40F double-heating tank and the YDXL rubber bitumen unit — use Italian Baltur burners for reliable ignition and worldwide spare-parts availability.

Many of these use double heating: a diesel flue path drives fast heat-up while thermal oil coils hold temperature gently, so you get speed without scorching the binder. Efficient designs keep diesel consumption low — the YDLR, for example, burns about 6–8 kg of diesel per ton of bitumen. The trade-off is fuel logistics: you need diesel storage and delivery, and running cost tracks the local diesel price.

3. Electric Heating

Electric heating removes fuel from the equation entirely — no burner, no flame, no combustion maintenance. Electric elements warm the thermal oil, which then heats the bitumen indirectly, so there are no hot spots and nothing to scorch. It is the quietest, cleanest and most maintenance-free option, ideal where grid power is stable and reasonably priced. Our DZL electric-heated tanks (80–100 kW, or grouped 5 kW heaters that stage power to demand) and the skid-mounted electric thermal oil heater cover this category.

The trade-off is installed power. Heating tank-farm volumes electrically demands serious grid capacity, and where electricity is expensive the running cost can exceed diesel. Electric heating shines for holding temperature, small-to-mid tanks, and workshops — many customers pair electric holding with a diesel boiler for the heavy cold-start work.

4. Gas Burner

Where piped natural gas or LPG is available, a gas burner is frequently the cheapest heat per ton of bitumen — and it burns cleaner than diesel. Our gas-fired double-heating bitumen tank (QZSL-35) uses an Italian Baltur gas burner with PT100 sensing and Schneider controls, giving the same fast-heat-up-plus-gentle-holding behaviour as the diesel double-heating tanks. The obvious limitation is supply: gas heating only makes sense where a gas connection or reliable LPG delivery already exists. Tell us your gas type and pressure and we configure the burner accordingly — see the full range of bitumen storage tanks.

The Five Factors That Should Drive Your Decision

Fuel and power availability. This usually decides it before anything else. No boiler and no grid on a remote site points to diesel; a strong gas connection points to gas; cheap stable electricity points to electric.

How many machines you are heating. One boiler feeding a decanter, tanks and pipelines is efficient; a single small machine plus a new boiler usually is not — go self-heating instead.

Running cost in your market. Compare local diesel, gas and electricity prices per unit of heat. The cheapest fuel varies dramatically by country, which is why there is no universal answer.

Mobility. Projects that relocate often favor self-contained diesel units that deploy with nothing but a fuel tank; fixed plants can invest in boiler or electrical infrastructure.

Climate and product. Cold climates need fast heat-up (favoring double heating); emulsion needs gentle indirect heat only (electric or thermal oil, never a direct flame); rubber and modified bitumen need high, stable temperatures with agitation.

Still Unsure? Tell Us Your Site Conditions

The right heating method is site-specific, not a matter of one option being universally best. Send us your available fuel and power, the machines you plan to run, your project location and climate, and whether the setup is fixed or mobile — and our engineers will recommend the heating configuration and return a quotation within 24 hours.

Feiteng has manufactured bitumen heating and melting equipment since 2007, delivered to the UK, Russia, Uganda, Mongolia, the Maldives and the Wirtgen Group. Contact Feiteng →

Related: Thermal Oil Boilers · Bitumen Storage Tanks · Bitumen Melting Machines