Preparation of Isotropic Carbon Fibers from Kerosene-Purified Coal Tar Pitch by Co-Carbonization with Pyrolysis Fuel Oil

• Published in: Materials Vol. 14; no. 21; p. 6280
• Main Authors: Lee, Seon Ho, Lee, Song Mi, Park, Seungjoo, Yoon, Seong-Ho, Han, Haksoo, Jung, Doo-Hwan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 21.10.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Carbon fibers; centrifugation; Coal; Coal tar; coal tar pitch extract; Energy efficiency; Fuel oils; Heat; Heat treatment; Investigations; isotropic carbon fiber; Kerosene; Low cost; Nitrogen; Physical properties; Pitch (material); Pyrolysis; pyrolysis fuel oil; Solvent extraction; Solvent extraction processes; Solvents; spinnable pitch; Sulfur content; Tensile strength; Japan
• ISSN: 1996-1944; 1996-1944
• DOI: 10.3390/ma14216280

An inexpensive and general-purpose carbon fiber was prepared using coal tar pitch. In contrast to the solvent extraction process employing expensive solvents, a low-cost centrifugal separation method facilitated the reduction of loss due to the pitch purification and an overall yield increase. The coal tar pitch purified by centrifugation and subsequently co-carbonized with pyrolysis fuel oil improved in spinnability. Moreover, the resulting spinnable pitch had a softening point of 250 °C. The obtained carbon fibers were heat-treated at 1000 °C for 5 min, resulting in a tensile strength of approximately 1000 MPa and an average diameter of 9 μm. In this study, we present an effective method for obtaining low-cost general-purpose isotropic carbon fibers.