Effects of molecular composition and carbonization reactivity of FCC decant oil and its derivatives on mesophase development

FCC decant oil is the primary feedstock to delayed coker to produce needle coke, premium carbon precursor to synthetic graphite electrodes. The molecular composition of the decant oils and their derivatives was analyzed to study the role of different components of the coker feeds in mesophase development. Slower conversion of asphaltenes into semi-coke favored a high degree of mesophase development. At high asphaltene levels, effective deformation of anisotropic domains during conversion to semi-coke promoted mesophase development. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 227th ACS National Meeting (Anaheim, CA 3/28/2004-4/1/2004).