A new X-ray fluorescence (XRF) method is proposed for sample preparation and impurity quantification for elements heavier than sodium in carbon materials. The analysis is suitable for various materials including amorphous ones, such as petroleum cokes, with an impurity content higher than 0.01%. We compared a new method with the regular additive method to measure impurities in electrode graphite and petroleum coke. The XRF-based method provides the same sensitivity and accuracy and much greater reproducibility of the analysis results for variations in the sample mass, its density, and coverage by exciting X-ray radiation. The method does not require changes in the instrument software and is easily implemented on commercial analytical equipment.

The results of experimental investigations on the coking of decanted heavy gasoil of catalytic cracking with polystyrene in a certain concentration range to obtain petroleum needle coke with the most developed string-base anisotropic structure and a microstructure point of at least 6.2 corresponding to the super-premium grade are presented. Certain regularities have been established to improve the structural quality index of the resulting needle coke from the optimal content of polystyrene in the base raw material, including the extreme dependence of the quality indices of needle coke on the polystyrene content (10 wt %). The decrease in the quality indices of the obtained carbon material is a consequence of uncontrolled changes toward an increase in the system viscosity performance (the viscosity increases 2.7 times). The experimentally obtained coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of needle coke-synthesized samples within the temperature range of 40–500 °C showed a reducing trend in CTE depending on the polymer additive proportion in the feedstock; for example, at 300 °C, the CTE decreases to 5.732 × 10^–6 °C^–1.

Modern development vector of environmental monitoring leads to elaboration of analytical methods for qualitative and quantitative analysis of different ecotoxicants. Many studies face the lack of information on isomers and homologues of already studied compounds. This problem cannot always be solved experimentally due to the difficulty of separating or synthesizing certain compounds; the use of group theories of solutions will help partly; using them, solubility in water or partition coefficient between two immiscible solvents is calculated for ecotoxicants. These parameters are important for solving the analytical and ecological problems. The partition coefficient in the octanol – water system is associated with a possibility of accumulation of different compounds in living organisms; the partition coefficient in the hexane – acetonitrile system can be used in gas chromatographic analysis. Solubility in water is closely associated with accumulation of ecotoxicants in water bodies, as well as with their ability to be transferred. This paper presents the capabilities of the UNIFAC model for solving physicochemical problems using the example of calculating the properties of real ecotoxicants on the basis of the available thermodynamic data. All the obtained calculated values were compared with those determined experimentally. In the case of pyrene derivatives, solubility data were obtained for the first time using a correlation group model to calculate the heat of fusion and melting temperature.