Production of oil-based needle coke
Thread Content
Acicular coke is divided into oil-based and coal-based types, and is primarily used in the production of high-power and ultra-high-power graphite electrodes. Prices have risen rapidly in recent months, and it is expected that there will be a new wave of investment in needle coke. However, the raw materials used for its production have been a constraint on its development; in particular, the supply of raw materials for oil-based needle coke is severely insufficient. How can we expand the sources of these raw materials?
What is the current price of needle coke? Regarding the expansion of raw material sources, are all the oil-based raw materials catalytic slurry? Has the possibility of incorporating some reprocessed oil and residue been considered?
If you first understand the principle behind the formation of needle coke, you will know why it is not added to reprocessed oil and residue
How do you know I’m not clear about the mechanism? Is there a large difference in the aromatic content between reprocessed oil and oil slurry? Furthermore, if the aromatic content in the feedstock for coke production is too high, the temperature range within which mesophase spheres can form becomes very narrow. By adding residue oil, this temperature range can be expanded by several degrees. Additionally, the addition of residue oil increases the residual carbon content in the feedstock, thereby raising the rate of coke formation. Are you involved in the research of pinholes or in their production? I am very interested in the actual production process.
It’s not true that any aromatic compound can be used to produce needle coke; specific types of aromatic compounds are required for its production. Additionally, a certain level of residual carbon can increase the yield of needle coke, but this increase relates to the yield of the embedded structures within the needle coke (what we refer to as ordinary coke). In fact, the yield of true needle-shaped coke does not increase much. Moreover, it takes time and specific conditions for mesophase spheres to form, grow, and expand before needle coke can be produced. Moreover, there is no need to raise the production temperature during the device manufacturing process; an excessively wide temperature range is not conducive to operation nor to overall heat balance.
In the field of high technology, I’ve learned *:)
Each of the two series has its own strengths. In my opinion, in current refining operations whose goal is the production of refined oil products and ethylene-based chemicals, the source of raw materials for oil-based needle coke has indeed been reduced ； Due to limitations in coking and tar processing capabilities, coal-based needle coke affects product quality, which is the issue of QI. Also under environmental protection pressures, delayed coking has been frequently criticized; as an important process for producing needle coke, it inevitably affects production and supply. Some studies have shown that mixing coking pitch with ethylene residue and subjecting the mixture to treatment improves the performance of the resulting product ； There are also methods for producing needle coke starting from coal tar. In fact, the process in delayed coking doesn’t change much; the key lies in the technology for raw material pretreatment.
The raw materials used in coking are related to the overall process layout of the plant; they cannot be changed simply as desired. It’s not possible to alter these raw materials just to increase the production of needle coke. The profit margin for simple coking units is not high. I was once in contact with a coking plant that was constructing units for vacuum distillation and atmospheric distillation
I’ve learned; it’s been enlightening. Coal-based and oil-based systems each have their advantages. At the current stage, the price of needle coke is very high.