The effect of carbon black on reforming of pyrolysis fuel oil for a binder pitch

Abstract Pyrolysis fuel oil (PFO) has been reformed to increase the quinoline-insoluble (QI) content by adding carbon black for use as a binder pitch because petroleum-based pitch generally has a low QI content. The prepared pitch was analyzed for its aromaticity ( f a ), QI content, molecular weight distribution, coking value (CV), softening point (SP), and carbonization yield. The QI content of the reformed pitches increased from 0.4% to 14.1%, whereas the average molecular weight of only quinoline-soluble content decreased by increasing the carbon black content. These results indicate that carbon black adsorbs low-molecular-weight compounds and serves as nuclei for the growth of QI particles. For these reasons, the SP and carbonization yield showed a decreasing tendency, but increased when QI sharply increased.