Various amounts of C9 petroleum resin (PR) were added to the starting materials for the preparation of low 4% and 8% SBS content polymer modified asphalt (PmA). Morphology, physical properties and rheological performance of each SBS-PmA are investigated by using fluorescence microscope (FM), routine tests and dynamic shearing rheometer (DSR). Routine tests and DSR results reveal that high-temperature performance of PmAs are markedly improved by using a proper content of C9 PR, especially for SBS-PmA with 8% SBS content. FM results show that incorporation of C9 PR is beneficial to the dispersion behavior of SBS in asphalt binder.

Use of waste bio-oil as a polymer modified asphalt (PMA) component is an effective approach to solve the related pollution problem because of tremendous consumption of asphalt binders. In this article, a bio-oil is used as softening and compatibility agent for high content SBS modified asphalt. The effect is given and is compared with that of aromatic oil. The results in this work reveal bio-oil is more advantageous to the PMA binder to exhibit better elasticity and flexibility, which are necessary to PMA. The anti-aging behaviors have also clearly been improved.

This work reports a novel method of combining both chemical activation and N₂ or steam post-treatment at high temperature for producing activated carbon (denoted as AC) used for the selective adsorption and separation of methane from the coal-bed gases. The used AC in the investigation mainly contained three kinds, commercial activated carbon (denoted as GH-8), the prepared activated carbon, denoted as AC-P, and AC-K, which was prepared by chemical activation using phosphoric acid and potassium hydroxide solution, respectively. Textural properties, surface oxygen-containing functional groups and methane adsorption performances of AC-P, AC-K, and GH-8 samples were comparatively investigated. Results demonstrated that both AC-P and AC-K showed higher methane adsorption capacity than the commercial activated carbon sample GH-8. Steaming treatment to AC-P at 800°C significantly enhanced the methane adsorption capacity to 6.5 mg/g, which was approximately two times higher than the commercial sample GH-8 (3.2 mg/g). The pronounced increment of adsorption capacity over AC-PS800 from steam-treatment was attributed to the significant increase of the area of micropores with a pore diameter of 0.45–0.65 nm. The presence of surface oxygen-containing groups on AC was proven to be slightly unfavorable to methane adsorption. CH₄ concentration in desorbed gas from AC-PS800 was drastically improved to about 70% in the effluent from about 5% in the feed gas, which demonstrated that the prepared AC-PS800 possessed high selective adsorption capacity for methane. These results would pay the way for concentrating and future utilization of methane in coal-bed gas.

This paper provides a comparative evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of each process step for the preparation of pitch-based carbon fibers, discusses strategies for process optimization, highlights critical operational considerations, and examines improvements in experimental equipment.

This study investigates the synthesis of mesophase pitch using low-cost fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) slurry and waste fluid asphaltene (WFA) as raw materials through the co-carbonization method. The resulting mesophase pitch product and its formation mechanism were thoroughly analyzed. Various characterization techniques, including polarizing microscopy, softening point measurement, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), were employed to characterize and analyze the properties and structure of the mesophase pitch. The experimental results demonstrate that the optimal optical texture of the mesophase product is achieved under specific reaction conditions, including a temperature of 420 °C, pressure of 1 MPa, reaction time of 6 h, and the addition of 2% asphaltene. It was observed that a small amount of asphaltene contributes to the formation of mesophase pitch spheres, facilitating the development of the mesophase. However, excessive content of asphaltene may cover the surface of the mesophase spheres, impeding the contact between them and consequently compromising the optical texture of the mesophase pitch product. Furthermore, the inclusion of asphaltene promotes polymerization reactions in the system, leading to an increase in the average molecular weight of the mesophase pitch. Notably, when the amount of asphaltene added is 2%, the mesophase pitch demonstrates the lowest I_D/I_G value, indicating superior molecular orientation and larger graphite-like microcrystals. Additionally, researchers found that at this asphaltene concentration, the mesophase pitch exhibits the highest degree of order, as evidenced by the maximum diffraction angle (2θ) and stacking height (Lc) values, and the minimum d₀₀₂ value. Moreover, the addition of asphaltene enhances the yield and aromaticity of the mesophase pitch and significantly improves the thermal stability of the resulting product.