Research of the possibility of using petroleum coke in the production of crushed carbon sorbents

Currently, the processes of the oil industry are focused on deepening oil refining. One of the ways to deepen oil refining is to obtain petroleum cokes at delayed coking plants. At the moment, the total productivity of delayed coking plants is increasing, while the output of petroleum coke with a high sulfur content is also growing, which does not allow it to be used in a typical consumption industry – the metallurgical industry. In this regard, researchers are actively exploring the possibility of qualified alternative use of petroleum coke. One of the promising directions is the use of petroleum coke as a raw material for the production of activated carbons, which will significantly expand the raw material base of their production. In this paper, studies have been conducted on the possibility of obtaining crushed activated carbons based on KES grade petroleum coke. During the experiments, samples of crushed activated carbons were obtained by single- and double-stage heat treatment (carbonation in an inert atmosphere and activation in an environment of superheated water vapor), and the characteristics of their porous structure were determined. The research results have shown that activated carbon obtained by two-stage heat treatment has a sufficiently high specific surface area (446 m2/g) and a maximum volume of sorption space (0.264 cm3/g). Thus, the proposed method of processing petroleum coke obtained by delayed coking into activated carbon can serve as one of the ways to expand its qualified use, and also opens up alternative raw material opportunities in the technology of activated carbon production.