THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ART of several aspects of asphaltene is presented in this volume. It documents the proceedings of the Internationl Symposium on Asphaltene Particles in Fossil Fuel Exploration, Recovery, Refining and Production Processes sponsored by the Fine particle Society (FPS). This meeting was held il1 Las vegas, Nevada, July 13 -17, 1992. The symposium upon which this volume is based was organized in four sessions emphasizing various basic and applied aspects of research on asphaltene technology. Major topics discussed involve surface phenomena of asphaltene, processed and unprocessed bitumen, asphaltene effect on natural and accelerated ageing of bitumens, asphaltene conversion, theoretical aspects of asphaltenes and interactions of asphaltene colloids in organic solvents. This edition includes eighteen selected papers presented at the symposium. These papers are divided in four broad categories: (1) Bitumen and Coal-Derived Asphaltenes, (2) Asphalt and Asphaltene conversion, (3) Surface and Colloidal Aspects of Asphaltenes, and (4) Thermodynamic and Molecular Aspects of Asphaltenes.