Characterization approach to develop distillation process for production of anode-grade coal tar pitch

Abstract

Many efforts have been spent to make a trade-off between designing an efficient distillation system and meeting very strict requirements of pitch product. The design of coal tar distillation for pitch production should be able not only energetically efficient but also to meet the physicochemical requirements of pitch. This paper presents a practical approach and a systematic method of material characterizations to evaluate appropriate distillation operating conditions. The purpose of this study was to develop a simple coal tar distillation process that focused on obtaining anode-grade binder having certain specifications. The distillation process was carried out in two stages. The first stage occurred up to 360-370°C at atmospheric pressure to separate all volatile fractions. The second stage distillation involves vacuum pressure with 4 conditions in which A<B<C<D ranging from -4 to -35 cmHg and varying soaking time to convert soft pitch into hard pitch. Higher vacuum pressure of distillation is not necessarily high to meet specifications. Our finding shows that B is the most favourable vacuum pressure and can be further heat treated for specific requirements of pitch.