Partial Replacement of Petroleum Coke with Modified Biocoke during Production of Anodes Used in the Aluminum Industry: Effect of Additive Type

Abstract

In order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, biocoke modified with different additives was used to replace part of the petroleum coke. Previously, a number of researchers attempted to manufacture anodes using biocoke. However, the majority of these efforts were unsuccessful because the quality of the anodes deteriorated with this replacement. The deterioration was due to the weak interactions between the pitch and biocoke compared to those between the pitch and petroleum coke. In this study, a chemical modification of biocoke was carried out using three additives (i.e., A(1), A(2), and A(3)) with the aim of improving biocoke–pitch interactions to prevent the deterioration of anode quality. The results of this study showed that biocoke–pitch interactions improved when the biocoke was modified with A(1) and A(3). The anodes containing biocoke modified with these two additives had properties similar to those of the standard anode (i.e., without biocoke). The utilization of additive A(2) did not show the same trend.