Effects of pressure during the synthesis of petroleum pitch precursors in open and closed systems

We examined the pressure effects on petroleum pitch synthesis by using open and closed reaction systems. The pressure effects that occur during the pitch synthesis were investigated in three pressure systems: a closed system of high pressure and two open systems under either an atmosphere or vacuum. A thermal reaction in the closed system led to the high product yield of a pitch by suppressing the release of light components in pyrolysis fuel oil. Atmospheric treatment mainly enhanced the polymerization degree of the pitch via condensation and a polymerization reaction. Vacuum treatment results in a softening point increase due to the removal of components with low molecular weights. To utilize such characteristic effects of system pressure during pitch preparations, we proposed a method for synthesizing cost-competitive pitch precursors for carbon materials. The first step is to increase product yield by using a closed system; the second step is to increase the degree of polymerization toward the desired molecular distribution, followed by the use of vacuum treatment to adjust softening points. Thus, we obtained an experimental quinoline insolubles-free pitch of product yield over 45% with softening points of approximately 130°C. The proposed method shows the possibility to prepare cost-competitive pitch precursors for carbon materials by enhancing product yield and other properties.