Kinetics of mesophase formation in a stirred tank reactor and properties of the products, IV: Carbon dioxide atmosphere

Abstract

The kinetics of mesophase formation from an ASHLAND pitch A240 at a carbon dioxide pressure of 1 MPa were studied in a discontinuous-stirred tank reactor. Compared to argon, carbon dioxide has a strong accelerating effect on the formation of polyaromatics as the intermediate step in mesophase formation, and simultaneously an accelerating effect on mesophase formation itself. The glass-transition temperatures and coke yields of the mesophase products are determined primarily by the content of insolubles or mesophase, and do not depend on the pyrolysis atmosphere. The kinetics of mesophase formation in carbon dioxide atmosphere can be described with the reaction scheme derived in previous papers[2,3] for pyrolysis in argon and hydrogen.