High Temperature Thermal Plasma Graphitisation Of Calcined Petroleum Coke

Abstract

In the present investigations an attempt has been made to produce synthetic graphite from calcined petroleum coke (cpc) by heating the homogeneous mixture of cpc powder and catalyst in the hearth zone of an extended argon arc plasma (EAAPR) reactor. The copper, aluminium and nickel powders were used as catalysts to accelerate the graphitisation process during plasma heat treatment. The cpc samples mixed with Ni, Al catalysts and plasma heat treated for 45 minutes in argon arc plasma evinced a degree of graphitisation of 89.04 % and 84.84 % respectively. The XRD studies on these samples indicate transformation of cpc to 4-H graphite. The SEM observations on high temperature plasma heat- treated cpc samples show flaky graphite morphology.