PROCESS FOR PRODUCING RAW MATERIAL PITCH FOR CARBON MATERIALS

Abstract: A process for producing a raw material pitch for carbon materials comprises: (a) adding aluminum chloride as a catalyst to naphthalene or a naphthalene derivative capable of being polymerised using AlCl₃ as a catalyst; (b) polymerizing said naphthalene or naphthalane derivative at a temperature of from 100 to 330 o C thereby to obtain a polymer; (c) adding water to said polymer, under stirring if necessary; (d) maintaining the resulting mixture in an emulsified state for a predetermined time under stirring; and (e) separating water containing residual catalyst from the polymer.

Description: The present invention relates to a process for producing a raw material pitch for carbon materials. A conventional method of producing a pitch by polymerizing naphthalene or a naphthalene derivative in the presence of a Lewis acid as a catalyst is disclosed in US-A-4863708. By "naphthalene derivative" herein we mean a naphthalene derivative capable of being polymerised by using AlCl₃ as a catalyst. In other words, the naphthalene derivative should be capable of being polymerised to form a pitch which is useful for preparing carbon materials. When naphthalene or a naphthalene derivative (hereinafter referred to as "naphthalene et al.") is polymerized in the presence of a Lewis acid, especially aluminum chloride, a raw material pitch, having a high softening point and excellent physical properties, for carbon materials is obtained. However, physical properties, such as strength, of the obtained carbon materials, for example carbon fibers, are not necessarily at a satisfactory level. It has been considered that the above problem can be solved if the residual catalysts in the polymer can be removed efficiently. For instance, an attempt was made to remove residual aluminum chloride by heating the polymer to a temperature higher than the subliming point of the chloride, 183°C. However, when naphthalene et al. is polymerized in the presence of aluminum chloride as a catalyst, a considerable amount of the chloride is denaturalized after it has functioned as the catalyst. As a result, a relatively high amount of residual catalyst was remained in the polymer even after the polymer was heated to 300°C. Accordingly, the method did not work. In addition, since the chemical structure of denaturalized aluminum chloride is unknown, it is difficult to predict an effective method to remove it from the polymer. So far, generally known methods of removing a residual catalyst such as a method of extracting with a solvent, a method of depositing, a method of filtering or a method of washing with water (GB-A-2164351) are adopted at random. However, each method has the following problem and any one of the method can not be satisfactory. Accordingly, more efficient and exact method of removing residual catalyst has been wanted seriously. For example, in a water washing, as a difference in specific gravity between water and the polymer is too large, although it is very easy to separate the polymer and water after washing, it is difficult to maintain a stable emulsion and even when the polymer is thrown into a large amount of water it is not possible to remove the residue effectively. In a solvent extraction or a depositing method, when a conventional solvent is used, separation of residual catalyst from polymer is very difficult and a use of a special and expensive solvent turns out to be essential, therefore high expense for the separation can not be avoided. Further, in a depositing or a filtering method, since a residual catalyst contains a considerable amount of very fine particles, long filtering time for separating residual catalyst from a liquid is required and makes the methods inefficient. As a result of an extensive study to solve the above problems and establish a method to remove the residual catalyst economically and efficiently, the present inventors have found that not only aluminum chloride but also denaturalized residual catalyst are dissolved well in water and further studied to make a contact between water and the residual catalyst very good with an expectation that in that case water, which is inexpensive and quite easy to handle, can be used as a washing liquid. Finally, the inventors have found that a very stable emulsion can be maintained if water is added into the polymer, quite contrary to the conventional concept of adding the polymer into a large amount of water. Based on the finding, the inventors attained the present invention. The present invention provides a process for producing a raw material pitch for carbon materials, which process comprises: (a) adding 5 to 50 parts by weight of aluminum chloride as a catalyst to 100 parts by weight of naphthalene or a naphthalene derivative capable of being polymerised using AlCl₃ as a catalyst; (b) polymerizing said naphthalene or naphthalene derivative at a temperature of from 100 to 330°C thereby to obtain a polymer; (c) gradually adding 20 to 400 parts by weight of water to 100 parts by weight of said polymer, under stirring if necessary; (d) maintaining the resulting mixture in an emulsified state for a predetermined time under stirring; and (e) adding further water so that more than 400 parts by weight of water in total is added and removing the water layer which separates from the polymer. According to a preferred embodiment the process additionally comprises step (f) further removing residual catalyst from the polymer by electrostatic oil purification. It is thus possible to provide a process for producing a raw material pitch, which is capable of efficiently producing carbon materials having high strength, having a very slight amount of residual polymerization catalyst and high purity. The process of the present invention produces a raw material pitch for carbon materials, containing a small amount of ash, preferably not more than 0.01% by polymerizing naphthalene et al. at a temperature of 100 to 330°C in the presence of aluminum chloride and removing a residual catalyst, which includes aluminum chloride and denaturalized aluminum chlorides. The process according to the present invention will be explained in detail in the following order of steps, polymerization, adjustment of viscosity, removal of residual catalyst and electrostatic oil purification The after-treatment, of the raw material pitch is also discussed. The polymerisation corresponds to steps (a) and (b) in the process of the invention, the viscosity adjustment to steps (c) and (d), the removed of residual catalyst to step (e) and The electrostatic oil purification to step (f). Polymerization steps (a) and (b): When naphthalene et al. is polymerized in the presence of aluminum chloride catalyst, 5 to 50 parts by weight, preferably 8 to 20 parts by weight of aluminum chloride is added on the basis of 100 parts by weight of naphthalene et al. If aluminum chloride is used less than 5 parts by weight, the molecular weight distribution of a pitch obtained is prone to be broad and a molded carbon product having a high strength is difficult to obtain and, in an extreme case which requires severe conditions, for instance fiber spinning, it is sometimes impossible to obtain a molded product. On the other hand, if aluminum chloride is used more than 50 parts by weight, it becomes more and more difficult to remove a residual catalyst with a necessary increase of a polymerization degree of the polymer. A polymerization temperature is in the range of 100 to 330°C, preferably 150 to 300°C. If the temperature is higher than 330°C, spherical crystals are developed in the polymer during polymerization, thereby making the removal of the catalyst difficult, and if the temperature is lower than 100 °C, the polymerization takes too long time and makes the process commercially disadvantage. The preferable polymerization time is between 0.5 and 100 hours. Adjustment of viscosity: The viscosity of the polymer measured at the temperature at which the water is added, with a B-type viscometer (hereinafter the viscosity of a polymer is measured with a B-type viscometer unless otherwise specified) is preferably not more than 0.3 Pas (300 centipoise), more preferably 0.01 to 0.15 Pas (10 to 150 centipoise). The temperature of the polymer when water is added can be optionally determined as far as the viscosity of the polymer measured at the temperature is within a predetermined range. However, if the temperature is too high, several problems occur, such as the polymerization might further proceed too much, volatile components might be emitted or the water added might evaporate and on the other hand, if the temperature is too low, handling of the polymer is prone to be difficult. Usually, the temperature is preferably in the range of 70 to 90°C and the viscosity of the polymer is preferably not more than 0.3 Pas (300 centipoise) measured at the temperature optionally determined within the range for the addition of water. It is because if the viscosity is higher than 0.3 Pas (300 centipoise), the dispersion of water in the polymer tends to be difficult, accordingly, a stable water-in-oil type emulsion may become difficult to maintain. If the temperature of the polymer at the time of adding water varies during the step, it is preferable to make the viscosity of the polymer measured at the lowest temperature not more than 0.3 Pas (300 centipoise). When the polymer has too high a viscosity which is to be lowered to not more than 0.3 Pas (300 centipoise), a viscosity modifier is to be added to the polymer. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the viscosity modifier is naphthalene or a naphthalene derivative as used as a starting material for the polymerization step. The viscosity modifier does not have to be specified and any liquid or solid type can be used so long as it can lower the viscosity of the polymer. Preferably the viscosity of said polymer is adjusted to not more than 0.3 Pas (300 centipoise), when measured by a B-type viscometer at 90°C, by adding a viscosity modifier prior to step (c). Use of naphthalene or a naphthalene derivative is advantageous because it can be recovered and reused after the removal of the residual catalyst. Removal of residual catalyst - steps (c) to (e): Water is added, under stirring if necessary, to the polymer obtained from steps (b) after adjustment of the viscosity if necessary. The mixture is emulsified under stirring. Adding the polymer into water as in a conventional method is inappropriate because the mixture is separated into layers The amount of water to be added is 20 to 400 parts by weight, preferably 30 to 300 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the polymer. Generally speaking, when water is added to a polymerization system of naphthalene et al. under stirring, until the amount of water reaches four times of the amount of the polymer in weight, water is in a disperse phase and the polymer is in a continuous phase and it is easy to maintain a stable emulsion of the mixture and therefore it also is easy to transfer the residual catalyst from the continuous phase to the dispersed phase, namely, from the polymer to water. That is, the emulsification accelerates the transfer of the residual catalyst to water and increases its diffusion rate, thereby shortening the washing time. Since, when the amount of water exceeds four times of the amount of polymer in weight, the emulsion tends to be broken in accordance with the increase of water, it is preferable that until the transfer of the residual catalyst to the water is completed, water should be added slowly under stirring (when the amount of water reaches near to 400 parts by weight to 100 parts by weight of the polymer, one must be careful not to break the emulsion until the transfer reaches a satisfactory level) and after that further water is added to break the emulsion into two layers. This makes separation of the polymer and water quite easy and efficient. A lower limit of amount of water to be added should be determined according to the amount of catalyst used. Too small amount of water, for instance not more than 20 parts by weight, is unfavorable because transfer of the residual catalyst is insufficient. The temperature of emulsion, namely, the temperature of transfer of the residual catalyst to water is preferably 70 to 90 °C. The residual catalyst in the present invention involves unchanged aluminum chloride and aluminum chloride denaturalized at the polymerization temperature after it has functioned as the catalyst. The time for maintaining the emulsion is predetermined by the amount of catalyst used and the amount of water added. Preferably the predetermined time is at least 10 minutes. After the residual catalyst has been transferred to the water, the emulsion is broken into layers of the polymer and the water, and the water layer containing the residual catalyst is removed. The emulsion can be broken by adding excess water, as described above, or can be mechanically broken with equipment such as a coalescer. The two layers are separated by decantation, gravity separation or another method and if necessary, separated the polymer layer is dried. Electrostatic oil purification (step (f)): A slight amount of catalyst remaining in the polymer is preferably removed by electrostatic oil purification so as to further reduce the residual catalyst in the polymer. Electrostatic oil purification is a method of removing the residual catalyst by creating an electric field between a cathode and an anode by applying a high-voltage direct current source to give fine foreign particles an electric charge and attracting the fine particles to a pole having the opposite polarity. In the case of the present polymerization system, fine metal particles are positively charged and attracted to a cathode. Equipment for electrostatic oil purification is exemplified by an electrostatic oil purifier manufactured by KLEENTEX KOGYO Ltd. After-treatment: The polymer of naphthalene et al. obtained in step (e) or (f) is heated under normal pressure or a reduced pressure, with or without a flow of an inert gas, in an atmosphere of an inert gas to remove volatile components as required to obtain a raw material pitch. The heat treatment means the process of heating the pitch to such a degree as to cause a dehydrogenation reaction. Usually, the heating temperature is not lower than 380°C. However, except in a particular case when low temperature heating is essential, a heating temperature slightly higher than 380°C is unfavorable because the dehydrogenation reaction takes a long time. The pitch may be converted into meso-phase pitch by further heat treatment if necessary, or an isotropic pitch without further heat treatment can also be used. Examples of heat treatment before molding are described in JP-B- 53-7,533 (1978) and US-A- 4,645,826. The raw material pitch obtained in the present invention is thereafter formed, infusibilized and carbonized, and, if desired, graphitized to obtain carbon materials. Forming is not necessarily restricted to spinning described in the following Examples but involves any forming such as film forming, sheet forming or sphere forming. A conventional method can be applied for infusibilizing, carbonizing or graphitizing the formed pitch. According to the present invention, since water is added to the polymer obtained by the polymerization of naphthalene et al., a stable water-in-oil emulsion can be maintained and the residual catalyst is efficiently transferred to a water phase, it is possible to reduce the ash content in the raw material pitch to preferably not more than 0.01%, more preferably not more than 0.005%, further preferably not more than 0.002%. The ash content is measured in accordance with JIS K-2425 (1978) except that the amount of sample for measuring is 100 g. Accordingly, since the raw material pitch of the present invention contains a smaller amount of ash than a pitch having the residual catalyst removed only by washing with water, use of the raw material pitch of the present invention can give carbon materials having of excellent quality. The following Examples illustrate the invention. A comparative Example is also provided. EXAMPLE Example 1: 1,000 g of naphthalene (first-class reagent, produced by KANTO KAGAKU, Ltd.) and 100 g of aluminum chloride (first-class reagent, produced by KANTO KAGAKU, Ltd.) were charged into a three-necked flask equipped with a stirrer and polymerized at 210°C for 24 hours. After the polymerization, another 1,000 g of naphthalene was added and the mixture was cooled to 80°C. The viscosity of the polymer diluted with naphthalene was 0.08 Pas (80 centipoise). 3,500 g of warm water was gradually added to the polymer under stirring and the mixture was emulsified. After the total amount of water was added, the mixture was stirred for half an hour. After almost all water was removed by breaking the emulsion with a coalescer, another 3,500 g of warm water was added and the same procedures as described above were repeated. The ash content in the polymer was 10 ppm (0.001%). The polymer obtained was heated at 400°C and 15 Torr under a flow of nitrogen for 60 minutes to remove volatile components. The softening point of the pitch obtained was 205°C. The pitch was charged into a cylinder having a nozzle 0.3 mm in diameter and heated to 280°C and melted. The molten pitch was then extruded for spinning through the nozzle with a nitrogen gas of a pressure of 196133 Pu G (2.0 kg/cm²G). The take-up rate was about 500 m/minute. The pitch fiber obtained was heated to about 260°C in an air at a temperature-raising rate of about 1°C/minute and the pitch was held in these conditions for about 30 minutes to be infusibilized. The infusibilized fiber was heated to about 900°C in an inert atmosphere at a temperature-raising rate of about 5°C/minute to be carbonized and then heated to about 2,000°C at a temperature-raising rate of about 50°C/minute for graphitization and obtained a graphite fiber having a diameter of 8.0µm. The tensile strength of the graphite fiber was 4168 N/mm² (425 kg/mm²) and the elasticity modulus was 343350 N/mm² (35 T/mm²). Example 2: The polymer polymerized in the same manner as in Example 1 was treated by an electrostatic oil purification equipment manufactured by KLEENTEK KOGYO Ltd. The ash content of the polymer thus obtained was 9 ppm (0.0009%). The polymer obtained was heated at 400°C and 1733 Pa (13 Torr) under a flow of nitrogen for 60 minutes to remove volatile components. The softening point of the pitch obtained was 204°C. The pitch was spun, infusibilized, carbonized and graphitized in the same way as in Example 1, thereby obtaining a graphite fiber having a diameter of 8.0µm. The tensile strength of the graphite fiber was 4305 N/mm² (439 kg/mm²) and the elasticity modulus was 353160 N/mm² (36 T/mm²). Comparative Example 1: The polymer polymerized in the same manner as in Example 1 was charged into 3,500 g of warm water and stirred and washed with water under the same conditions as in Example 1 except the point that the polymer was added to water. In this case, it was impossible to make the mixture emulsified. The mixture was separated into two layers immediately after stirring was stopped and the upper water layer was removed, thereby finishing the step of washing the polymer with water. This washing step was repeated again. An ash content in the polymer after the separation of water layer was 180 ppm (0.018%). The polymer obtained was heated at 400°C and 1733 Pa (13 Torr) under a flow of nitrogen for 60 minutes to remove volatile components. The softening point of the pitch obtained was 205°C. The pitch was spun, infusibilized, carbonized and graphitized in the same way as in Example 1, thereby obtaining a graphite fiber having a diameter of 8.0µm. The tensile strength of the obtained graphite fiber was 2746 N/mm² (280 kg/mm²) and the elasticity modulus was 215820 N/mm² (22 T/mm²).

Claims: A process for producing a raw material pitch for carbon materials, which process comprises: (a) adding 5 to 50 parts by weight of aluminum chloride as a catalyst to 100 parts by weight of naphthalene or a naphthalene derivative capable of being polymerised using AlCl₃ as a catalyst; (b) polymerizing said naphthalene or naphthalane derivative at a temperature of from 100 to 330°C thereby to obtain a polymer; (c) gradually adding 20 to 400 parts by weight of water to 100 parts by weight of said polymer, under stirring if necessary; (d) maintaining the resulting mixture in an emulsified state for a predetermined time under stirring; and (e) adding further water so that more than 400 parts by weight of water in total is added and removing the water layer which separates from the polymer. A process according to claim 1, comprising additionally: (f) further removing residual catalyst from the polymer by electrostatic oil purification. A process according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the viscosity of said polymer at the temperature at which the water is added is not more than 0.3 Pas (300 centipoise) when measured with a B-type viscometer. A process according to claim 3, wherein the viscosity of said polymer is adjusted to not more than 0.3 Pas (300 centipoise), when measured by a B-type viscometer at 90°C, by adding a viscosity modifier prior to step (c). A process according to claim 4, wherein said viscosity modifier is naphthalene or a naphthalene derivative as used as a starting material for the polymerization step. A process according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said predetermined time is at least 10 minutes. A process according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the temperature in step (d) is from 70 to 90°C. A process according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the raw material pitch thus produced is thereafter formed, infusibilized, carbonized and, if desired, graphitized.

Inventors: MURAKAMI, YOSINOBU, OONO, TOORU, SEO, IKUO
Applicants: KUREHA KAGAKU KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1990
Main classification: C10C3
IPC codes: D01F9, C10C3, C08G61, C01B31