To remove bitumen or bituminous matter from coal, crude oil, or other materials through heating or chemical treatment.
From 'de-' (removal) + 'bituminize' (to make bituminous), itself from 'bitumen' (pitch-like substance). The -ize suffix makes it a verb. Emerged in 19th-century industrial chemistry.
When coal was the king of energy, 'debituminizing' it was a major industrial process—you'd heat coal in low-oxygen conditions to drive off gases and tar, leaving behind valuable coke for steel furnaces!
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