The first coal-based needle coke industrial production facility in China with independent intellectual property rights was completed and put into operation last week at Shanxi Hongte Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. It is estimated that by the end of this year, 10,000 to 1.5 million tons of needle coke can be produced. After stable operation, the annual output can reach 50,000 tons. The completion of the project not only shortens the gap between China's coal tar deep processing technology and the world's advanced level, but also completely breaks the situation in China where needle coke is completely dependent on imports over the years.
Needle coke is the main raw material for the manufacture of high-grade graphite electrodes and is mainly used for the production of high-power and ultra-high-power graphite electrodes for electric furnace steelmaking. Graphite electrodes are classified into common electrodes, high-power electrodes and ultra-high-power electrodes, and are used as high-energy neutron deceleration materials in atomic reactors, and are also used in rocket technology. According to the different raw materials, it can be divided into two types: oil system (using petroleum heavy oil as raw material) and coal system (and coal tar pitch whose fraction is divided into raw materials).
In the 1950s, the United States first mastered the production technology of needle coke in the petroleum sector. Due to the trend towards the development of lighter deep processing such as catalytic cracking and the increasing shortage of oil supply, petroleum needle coke raw materials have been reduced. Japan, Germany, and other countries are all committed to the development of coal-based needle coke technology.
The development of needle coke technology in our country started relatively late. From the sixth five-year period, needle coke was listed as a national key scientific and technological research project. In the 1990s, production trials were conducted at the Anshan Fertilizer Plant and Jining, Shandong Province. The key technology was not available. Breakthroughs, although gaining some experience from it, have not formed in the end. The needle coke products have been dependent on imports for a long time, which has seriously affected the development of China's carbon industry. In 2005, China produced high-power, ultra-high power electrodes of 165,000 tons and 65,000 tons, respectively, and imported needle coke of 100,000 tons at a price of 1,000 US dollars/ton. According to the development trend of China's electric furnace steelmaking, by 2010, the domestic demand for needle coke will exceed 400,000 tons.
Needle coke is a national shortage product. At present, there are a number of corporate agencies in China that are researching and researching the coal-coke needle coke production technology. Among them, the feasibility study of the needle coke project developed by the Anshan Thermal Energy Research Institute of Sinosteel Group has been completed. Work is stepping up.