Study on the preparation of mesophase pitch by extracting oil from catalytic slurry

Due to the high content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and solid powders in catalytic slurry, its utilization value is currently low. However, the fragrant components in it are high-quality raw materials for the preparation of carbon materials such as mesophase pitch. Therefore, in this study, mesophase pitch was prepared from the extracted oil of the petrochemical catalytic slurry by a direct thermal condensation reaction. Elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, and polarizing microscopy were used to characterize the mesophase pitch. The effects of temperature and pressure on the softening point, H/C atomic ratio, mesophase content, and microstructure of the mesophase pitch were investigated. The results showed that the optimal conditions for thermal condensation to extract oil from a catalytic slurry were 430 °C, 2 MPa, and 8 hours. The mesophase pitch, possessing a softening point of 275 °C and a mesophase content of 98.5%, with a wide-area optical structure, could be prepared under optimal conditions. This study effectively utilized the aromatic components of oil slurry, providing crucial theoretical guidance for achieving high-value utilization of oil slurry.