Liquid phase exfoliation of natural graphite is an industrially effective solution for graphene preparation. However, many countries have identified natural graphite as a strategic resource and restricted its mining. In this report, we used abundant and readily available needle coke (NC) as a graphene exfoliation precursor and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as a dispersant to prepare a sandwich structured conductive graphitized NC nanosheets (GNCNs) by liquid phase exfoliation, freeze-drying and high-temperature graphitization, in which a graphene layer is sandwiched between two thin CMC layers. CMC could increase the liquid absorption and retention ability of the conductive agent and improve the migration rate of lithium ions. The highly ordered graphene layer could accelerate the transmission of electrons. The GNCNs with 0.4 wt% CMC addition showed good rate performance (144.6 mAh g− 1 at 5 C) and high cycle stability (96.2% after 200 cycles at 1 C) for LiFePO4 (LFP) battery. The traditional Super-P (SP) conductive agent exhibited low-rate performance (113.9 mAh g− 1 at 5 C) and cycle performance (89.9% after 200 cycles at 1 C). This study offers a novel approach to selecting graphene precursors and has promising applications for conductive additives in high-performance LFP batteries.

The paper deals with a comparative study of equilibrium and kinetics of phenol adsorption from aqueous solutions by means of commercial activated carbons and semi-cokes, differing in the nature of feedstock, production technology and structural characteristics. The main adsorption parameters are calculated with the usage of Langmuir and Dubinin–Radushkevich equations. The change in the characteristics of the structure and state of the surface of semi-coke P2 as a result of modification is estimated. It was found that phenol adsorption kinetics is described by a pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption rate constants and the coefficient of external diffusion mass transfer are calculated. It is proved that phenol extraction from aqueous solutions presents a mixed-diffusion nature, and the process rate is limited by external mass transfer for 13 min for SKD-515 and 22 min for ABG. To increase the adsorption capacity, the oxidative modification of the semi-coke P2 was carried out. Considering the economic and technological aspects, ABG semi-coke is recognized as a promising sorbent for phenol extraction from aqueous media.

In the present study, pyrolyzed fuel oil (PFO)-based pitch without impurities was used to prepare coke under pressure, and the preparation yield and the powder resistance depending on the graphitization were investigated. The preparation yield of green coke by pressurized coking at 500 °C was about 26–27% higher than that at normal pressure. However, the coke yield after the thermal treatment of green coke at 900 °C was lower by 10.6–14.8% at the pressurization conditions than under normal pressure. This may be because the substances that are not vaporized under the pressurized conditions remain in the reactants and then are discharged later. The coke yield after the thermal treatment at 900 °C was higher by 14.9–28.3% under the pressurized conditions than under the normal pressure, indicating that the low-boiling point materials of the pitch participated more in coke polymerization under the pressurized conditions. The density of the coke prepared under the pressurized conditions was lower than that of the coke prepared under normal pressure, because the low-boiling point materials of the pitch participated in the reaction. However, after graphitization, the density values became similar (2.27–2.26 g/cm3). The volume resistivity of the graphitized samples was in a range of 0.499 × 10–2–0.384 × 10–2 Ω cm, indicating that the coke samples have similar electrical properties. The results of the present study show that, in comparison with the conventional normal-pressure process, the pressurized coking process can improve the yield through the participation of low-boiling point materials in the polymerization reaction, while maintaining the properties of the prepared coke and graphite, such as the conductivity and density.

This study examined the effects of micro- (crystallinity) and macro (orientation)-crystalline properties of graphite on the initial efficiency, discharge capacity, and rate performance of anodic materials. Needle coke and regular coke were selected as raw materials and pulverized to 2–25 μm to determine the effects of crystalline properties on particle shape after pulverization. Needle coke with outstanding crystallinity had high initial efficiency, and smaller particles with larger specific surface areas saw increased irreversible capacity due to the formation of SEI layers. Because of cavities existing between crystals, the poorer the crystalline properties were, the greater the capacity of the lithium ions increased. As such, regular coke had a 30 mAh/g higher discharge capacity than that of needle coke. Rate performance was more affected by particle size than by crystalline structure, and was the highest at a particle distribution of 10–15 μm.

The porous carbons with high specific surface area and excellent electrochemical properties were prepared using three types of green needle coke as raw materials. Electrochemical performances of the porous carbons derived from different microstructure green needle coke were investigated. The XRD and Raman spectra demonstrated that the content of the ordered carbon microcrystals were decreased and the content of amorphous and cross-linked structure were increased in the porous carbons with comparison to the raw materials. The results of N2 adsorption–desorption analysis verified that the content of ordered microcrystalline structure in the raw materials evidently influence the specific surface area and pore size distribution of the porous carbons. The porous carbon with 1665 m2 g−1 specific surface area and 2.89 nm average pore size has shown that the specific capacitance was 288 F g−1 at the current density 1 A g−1. Furthermore, the capacity retention was 94.93% and the Coulombic efficiency was 92.87% after 5000 charge/discharge cycles.

The oxygen-rich activated carbon (AC) was facilely developed using petroleum coke as a raw material by KOH activation under the rapid heating rate. The porosity and surface chemistry of ACs prepared under different heating rates were characterized and their adsorption properties for methylene blue (MB) were investigated. The results showed that the AC5 prepared under the heating rate of 5 °C min−1 had the highest surface area compared with the AC10, AC15 or AC20, while the AC20 prepared under the heating rate of 20 °C min−1 consisted of the highest oxygen content and most –OH functional group compares with the other ACs. These indicated that rapid heating rate was against the formation of more developed porosity, however, it was beneficial to producing more oxygen functional groups. As to MB adsorption, AC15 exhibited the maximum adsorption capacity for MB of 884 mg g−1 due to high surface area of 2803 m2 g−1 and high oxygen content of 23.27%. Moreover, despite the fact that AC20 had much lower surface area than the AC5, the AC20 showed higher MB adsorption capacity than the AC5. This was because the AC20 has the highest content of –OH, which was a positive impetus for MB adsorption. Therefore, rapid heating rate was an effective and simple approach to preparing the oxygen-rich ACs for improving the adsorption capacity of MB.

Various semi-cokes were obtained from medium–low-temperature pyrolysis of Shenmu long flame coal. The combustion characteristic index and CO2 gasification reactivity of semi-cokes were measured and analyzed using thermogravimetry analysis. The influence of particle size on CO2 gasification reactivities of these semi-cokes was studied. In addition, the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area (SBET), carbon material structure order and carbon crystalline structure were examined by N2 adsorption, Raman spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction. All of these properties were used to evaluate the CO2 gasification reactivity of these semi-cokes. The results show that the gasification reactivity of semi-cokes decreases with an increasing crystallinity and structure order. Surface area of the pores is proportional to the reactivity of the semi-coke; the greater the surface area, the faster the gasification reaction rate.

Coke aggregates and carbon artifacts were produced to investigate the interactions of coke and pitch during the kneading process. In addition, the kneading ratio of the coke and binder pitch for the coke aggregates was controlled to identify the formation of voids and pores during carbonization at 900°C. Experiments and thermogravimetric analysis revealed that carbon yields were improved over the theoretical yield calculated by the weight loss of the coke and binder pitch; the improvement was due to the binding interactions between the coke particles and binder pitch by the kneading process. The true, apparent, and bulk densities fluctuated according to the kneading ratio. This study confirmed that an excessive or insufficient kneading ratio decreases the density with degradation of the packing characteristics. The porosity analysis indicated that formation of voids and pores by the binder pitch increased the porosity after carbonization. Image analysis confirmed that the kneading ratio affected the formation of the coke domains and the voids and pores, which revealed the relations among the carbon yields, density, and porosity.

Physical and electrochemical qualities were analyzed after KOH activation of a direct methanol fuel cell using needle coke as anode supporter. The results of research on support loaded with platinum-ruthenium suggest that an activated KOH needle coke container has the lowest onset potential and the highest degree of catalyst activity among all commercial catalysts. Through an analysis of the CO stripping voltammetry, we found that KOH activated catalysis showed a 21% higher electrochemical active surface area (ECSA), with a value of 31.37 m2/g, than the ECSA of deactivated catalyst (25.82 m2/g). The latter figure was 15% higher than the value of one specific commercial catalyst (TEC86E86).

Needle coke is an important material for graphite electrodes. Delayed coking is used to produce needle coke. Producing good quality needle coke is not simple because it is a multi-parameter controlled process. Apart from that, it is important to understand the mechanism responsible for the delayed coking process, which involves mesophase formation and uniaxial rearrangement. Temperature and pressure need to be optimized for the different substances in every feedstock. Saturate hydrocarbon, aromatic, resin and asphaltene compounds are the main components in the delayed coking process for a low Coefficient Thermal Expansion value. In addition, heteroatoms, such as sulphur, oxygen, nitrogen and metal impurities, must be considered for a better graphitization process that prevents the puffing effect and produces better mesophase formation.

Activated carbon was prepared from pre-carbonized petroleum coke. Textural properties were determined from studies of the adsorption of nitrogen at 77 K and the surface chemistry was obtained using the Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer technique and the Boehm titration process. The adsorption of three aromatic compounds, namely phenol (P), p-nitrophenol (PNP) and benzoic acid (BA) onto APC in aqueous solution was studied in a batch system with respect to contact time, pH, initial concentration of solutes and temperature. Active carbon APC obtained was found to possess a high surface area and a predominantly microporous structure; it also had an acidic surface character. The experimental data fitted the pseudo-second-order kinetic model well; also, the intraparticle diffusion was the only controlling process in determining the adsorption of the three pollutants investigated. The adsorption data fit well with the Langmuir and Freundlich models. The uptake of the three pollutants was found to be strongly dependent on the pH value and the temperature of the solution. Most of the experiments were conducted at pH 7; the pH(PZC) of the active carbon under study was 5.0; the surface of the active carbon was negatively charged. The thermodynamic parameters evaluated for APC revealed that the adsorption of P was spontaneous and exothermic in nature, while PNP and BA showed no-spontaneity of the adsorption process and that process was endothermic in nature.

Potassium hydroxide activated carbons were prepared from Egyptian petroleum cokes with different KOH/coke ratios and at different activation temperatures and times. The textural properties were determined by adsorption of nitrogen at -196℃. The adsorption of iodine and methylene blue was also investigated at 30℃. The surface area and the non-micropore volume increased whereas the micropore volume decreased with the increase of the ratio KOH/coke. Also the surface area and porosity increased with the rise of activation temperature from 500 to 800℃. Textural parameter considerably increased with the increase of activation time from 1 to 3 h. Further increasing of activation time from 3 to 4 h was associated with a less pronounced increase in textural parameters. The adsorption of iodine shows the same trend of surface area and porosity change exhibited by nitrogen adsorption, with KOH/coke ratio and temperature of activation. Adsorption of methylene blue follows pseudo-first-order kinetics and its equilibrium adsorption follows Langmuir and D-R models.