Carbon-ceramic composites from coal tar pitch and clays: application as electrocatalyst support

Carbon-ceramic composites have been prepared and characterised by different techniques (electron microscopy, X-ray microanalysis, X-ray diffraction and cyclic voltammetry). The effect on the conductivity of the thermal treatment temperature of the composites and the structure of the starting ceramic has been analysed. The results demonstrate that the layered structure of the clay determines their conductivity. The composites prepared are conductors and the conductivity goes through a maximum with increasing thermal treatment. Platinum has been successfully deposited on the carbon-ceramic composite by chemical and electrochemical methods. A better distribution of platinum and smaller particle sizes are obtained by the electrochemical method. The direct electrooxidation of methanol in acid medium has been studied on platinum-modified carbon-ceramic electrodes.     

Analysis of the carbonization and formation of coal tar pitch mesophase under dynamic conditions

Thermokinetic analysis of three pitch samples was carried out: coal tar pitch obtained from light coke oven tar (P), mesophase pitch after 10.5 h (MP1), and mesophase pitch after 12 h (MP2) thermopreparation at 410 °C. The process was realized in a continuous system with a 10 kg mass being charged to the reactor. It was demonstrated using Kissinger’s law that the temperature criterion, the first-order thermokinetics and the calculated Arrhenius law parameters fulfill the isokinetic effect when the classical routes of thermokinetic analysis of the samples prepared under dynamic conditions (at three heating rates) are used, which makes the qualitative interpretation of differences between these samples difficult. An alternative solution was proposed using the relative rate of thermal decomposition. The temperature ranges of the chemical reactions leading to the formation of mesophase structures, as well as the temperature ranges of the coking processes of the Fixed Carbon phase, were determined.     

Analysis and modeling of mesophase sphere generation, growth and coalescence upon heating of a coal tar pitch

The present study has been undertaken aiming: (1) to provide an experimental procedure for measurement of characteristics of mesophase sphere formation from a coal tar pitch upon heating at 673-723 K in terms of the time-dependent changes in the population density and the radius distribution of the spheres and (2) to prove that the nucleation, growth and coalescence of the spheres are essential for quantitative explanation of the time-dependent changes. In regard to (1), this paper describes the conditions that are required in microscopic analysis of cross-sections of the bulk of heat-treated pitch for the conversion of the population density and the radius distribution of the cross-sectional circles into those of spheres on volume basis. Regarding (2), a model analysis demonstrates that the change in the radius distribution with time, as well as that in the population density of spheres, can quantitatively be predicted. The analysis also reveals that the spheres grow without undergoing coalescence in the early period, and the sphere coalescence commences after termination of sphere generation while the growth continues.     

Effect of different oxidation treatments on the chemical structure and properties of commercial coal tar pitch

Different oxidation treatment was used for the increase of the softening point of a commercial coal tar pitch. H₂SO₄, HNO₃, H₂O₂ and air are selected as treatment reagents. These preliminary investigations show that the oxidation treatment of commercial coal tar pitch with different reagents at 160 °C and heat treatment to 250 °C causes considerable changes in the chemical composition of obtained pitches. This leads to increase of TI and QI fraction, and results in considerable increase in the softening point of the pitches. The yield of modified pitches is considerable in the case of treatment with H₂SO₄, H₂O₂, and HNO₃ and lesser in the case of air blowing. The data obtained also indicate some differences in the composition and softening point of pitches obtained after modification with different reagents. These differences could influence the applicability of the obtained pitches in the various areas of carbon material production.     

煤沥青的最新研究进展

综述了最近几十年国内外对煤沥青的主要分析方法和以它为原料在制备沥青基中间相、中间相炭微球、针状焦、活性炭、泡沫炭和高性能炭/炭复合材料基体方面的研究和进展,展望了其在材料领域潜在的应用前景和未来发展的趋势.     

A study of evolved gas control and its effect on carbon yield during the activation of carbon fibres by controlled rate methods

The rate of evolution of CO₂ or CO was used to control the low temperature activation of carbon fibres in O₂ mixtures via a feedback loop operated by a PC and in-house software. The CO₂ or CO concentration was monitored by a mass spectrometer and its level kept constant by varying the O₂ concentration using mass flow controllers. Experiments were carried out at the same evolution rates for identical times at temperatures of 500–800 °C. It was found that the rate of carbon burn off was not constant and varied with the temperature, especially where the rate of CO₂ evolution was controlled. The proposed reason for this was the high temperature gas phase oxidation of CO. However, surface areas of up to 1500 m² g⁻¹ were produced by these methods and thermal runaway was avoided.     

贫煤与煤沥青共炭化研究

进行了不同配比的煤沥青和贫煤的共炭化研究,研究表明,煤沥青与贫煤共炭化时的相互作用是物理融合和化学相互作用的共同作用。其中物理融合表现在使焦炭界面结合状态改善,化学相互作用表现在煤沥青使贫煤的炭化性能发生变化。随煤沥青配比的增加,配煤黏结性有较大改善,焦炭OTI值增大,ISO值减小。煤沥青通过增大焦炭光学组织各向异性程度,使焦炭的反应性降低,反应后强度提高。     

Modified characteristics of mesophase pitch prepared from coal tar pitch by adding waste polystyrene

The toluene soluble of coal tar pitch was carbonized with waste polystyrene. The properties of mesophase pitches were characterized using polarized light optical microscope, apparent viscometer, FT-IR, ¹H NMR and X-ray diffractometer. After adding the waste polystyrene into the toluene soluble of coal tar pitch, the soluble mesophase were was increased from about 9% to 52% and the mesophase pitches were changed from 74% with coarse mosaic texture to 100% with flow domain texture. The mesophase pitches were transformed from thixotropy to unthixotropy. By waste polystyrene added into the toluene soluble of coal tar pitch, the methylene group was increased a lot. The presence of more alkyl groups modified the characteristics of mesophase pitches and improved the assembly of mesophase pitch molecules.     

煤沥青热聚合研究

以煤沥青为原料,采用直接热聚合工艺制备出优质中间相沥青。研究了热聚合温度及保温时间对中间相沥青族组成及光学组织结构等性能的影响,并对反应机理进行了深入研究,得到了制备中间相沥青的最佳工艺条件。研究表明,在一定条件下,通过热聚合,在低温、长时间或高温、短时间都能制备优质中间相沥青。在360℃、5 h条件下制备的中间相球晶较小,分布较分散;而在380℃、4 h条件下制备的球晶较大,分布较集中。制备的中间相可作为高级炭材料的优质前躯体,为制取高质量的新型炭材料提供了一条新的途径,对煤炭资源的综合利用具有十分重要的意义。     

A study of pitch-based precursors for general purpose carbon fibres

The isotropic phase isolated from a thermally treated coal-tar pitch was studied as a possible precursor for carbon fibres. Extraction with different solvents was performed in order to increase its softening point and so enable higher stabilisation temperatures to be used, with a significant reduction in time. The extraction conditions were selected studying the softening temperatures of the residues, the results of their thermogravimetric analysis and reactivity in air studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry. The residue obtained with a mixture of 40% acetone-60% acetonitrile was found to be the most suitable precursor for the fibres. The carbonised fibres showed a homogeneous surface and diameter, and had tensile properties comparable to other isotropic fibres described in the literature.     

芳香族硝基化合物改性煤沥青研究

以煤沥青为原料,通过添加不同含量的芳香族硝基化合物对煤沥青进行改性处理,采用TG、CO2反应性、XRD和SEM对改性沥青焦进行表征。结果表明,芳香族硝基化合物有效地促进了煤沥青在炭化过程中的焦化缩聚,使产物沥青焦结构更加致密,并在一定程度上改变了沥青焦的氧化行为,从而显著提高了沥青黏结焦的抗氧化性能。     

改性煤沥青在炭素生产中的应用

概述了沥青的分类和性质以及沥青改性、改性方法,讲述了在改性煤沥青生产应用中的要求,改性沥青的应用过程、效果和缺点。根据实验数据阐述了在改性煤沥青生产应用中的温度选择。结果表明,改性煤沥青特有的高软化点和粘度决定了在熔化、输送和混捏过程对温度的要求较高。数据分析表明软化点不能够准确指导下料温度,而粘度与下料温度呈正比例关系。因此,粘度可以作为下料温度的一个可靠的参考指标。     

煤沥青制备针状焦的研究

通过溶剂-离心法净化原料沥青,应用延迟焦化工艺制备针状焦,考察了在聚合过程中QI含量、温度、压力以及时间对成焦的影响.结果表明,原料中QI含量的减少有利于针状结构的生成,当QI含量小于0.1％时能形成大面积的针状结构;适当的温度和压力能使体系的黏度降低,促进气流拉焦作用,在470℃、0.35 MPa条件下得到的针状焦较为理想;充足的反应时间保证小球的充分融并,反应24h体系能融并、重排,形成良好的针状结构.     

Preparation of fibrous porous materials by chemical activation 2. H3PO4 activation of polymer coated fibers

Fibrous porous materials (FPMs) have been prepared by coating a glass fiber with an aqueous solution of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and H₃PO₄, followed by stabilization and heat treatment in air. The H₃PO₄ was then removed by washing with deionised water and NaOH. The results show that H₃PO₄ acts as a dehydration agent to promote pyrolytic and thermal crosslinking of PVA at a much lower temperature of 170 °C, leading to FPMs having much higher char yields and surface areas. The activation in air is of benefit to achieve higher surface areas as compared to using N₂. Utilizing a fiberglass mat to support coatings of PVA activated with H₃PO₄ results in much higher specific surface areas. The activation temperature, activation time and concentration of H₃PO₄ have strong effects on the surface area, pore size distribution and coating content of FPMs.     

Carbon foams prepared from coal tar pitch for building thermal insulation material with low cost

A new approach is provided to resolve the large-scale applications of coal tar pitch. Carbon foams with uniform pore size are prepared at the foaming pressure of normal pressure using coal tar pitch as raw materials. The physical and chemical performance of high softening point pitch(HSPP) can be regulated by vacuumizing owing to the cooperation of vacuumizing and polycondensation. Results indicate that the optimum softening point and weight ratio of quinoline insoluble are about 292℃ and 65.7%, respectively. And the optimum viscosity of HSPP during the foaming process is distributed in the range of 1000-10000 Pa·s. The resultant carbon foam exhibits excellent performance, such as uniform pore structure, high compressive strength(4.7 MPa), low thermal conductivity(0.07 W·m~(-1) ·K~(-1)), specially, it cannot be fired under the high temperature of 1200 ℃.Thus, this kind of carbon foam is a potential candidate for thermal insulation material applied in energy saving building.     

Characterization of activated carbon fibers using argon adsorption

In this paper, we present results of the internal structure (pore size and pore wall thickness distributions) of a series of activated carbon fibers with different degrees of burn-off, determined from interpretation of argon adsorption data at 87 K using infinite and finite wall thickness models. The latter approach has recently been developed in our laboratory. The results show that while the low bun-off samples have nearly uniform pore size (<0.6 nm), the pore size distribution of the high burn-off samples becomes broader, with a significant increase in proportion of larger pores. The results of pore wall thickness distribution are generally consistent with development of porosity with increasing degree of burn-off. Further they show good correspondence with X-ray diffraction.     

Synthesis of photoluminescent SiC-SiOx nanowires using coal tar pitch as carbon source

SiC-SiOx nanowires (NWs) with core-shell and chain-bead structures were synthesized via a catalyst-free chemical vapor deposition (CVD) route without Ar gas, using silicon and coal tar pitch powders as raw materials. The SiC-SiOx NWs with sharp tips formed by solid-vapor between Si (s) and CO (g) or C (s) and SiO (g), liquid-vapor between Si (l) and CO (g), and vapor-vapor between SiO (g) and CO (g) growth process along the [111] direction. The NWs were several millimeters in length, and the average diameters of the chains and beads were 40–90 nm and 325 nm, respectively. The obtained NWs had good blue-green photoluminescence property owing to the stacking faults and amorphous SiOx. This novel CVD route is simple, low cost and suitable for large-scale production.     

A study of the characteristics of activated carbons produced by steam and carbon dioxide activation of waste tyre rubber

This paper presents a study into the effect of different activation conditions on the porosity and adsorption characteristics of carbon adsorbents produced from waste tyre rubber. For the purpose of this work, three carbon series were produced using different activation temperatures (between 925 and 1100 °C) and oxidising agents (steam or carbon dioxide). Carbons produced to different degrees of burn off were characterised using gas (nitrogen) and liquid phase (phenol, methylene blue and Procion Red H-E2B) adsorption. Total micropore volumes and BET surface areas increased almost linearly with the degree of activation to 0.554 ml/g and 1070 m²/g, respectively, while the development of external surface area was particularly rapid at degrees of activation above 50 wt% burn off. Steam was observed to generate a narrower but more extensive microporosity than carbon dioxide. However, carbon dioxide produced carbons of slightly larger external surface areas. Activation at higher temperatures resulted in pores of slightly larger dimensions, although this was only evident in highly activated samples. Porosity characteristics were reflected in the capacity of the carbons to adsorb species of different molecular size from solution. In this respect, steam-activated carbons presented greater capacities for the adsorption of smaller molecular size compounds (phenol), while carbon dioxide-activated carbons adsorbed larger textile dyes more effectively.