Utilization of Petroleum Coke Soot as Energy Storage Material

Anode active materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) were produced by using waste soot generated after combustion in a plant using petroleum coke as fuel. The soot collected from the boilers in the plant was graphitized through annealing, and this annealed soot was applied to anode active materials. After annealing at 2700 °C, the soot was converted into highly crystalline graphite with ring shapes approximately 100 nm in diameter. The lithium ion coin cells produced using graphitized soot showed high discharge capacity and excellent life cycle with a reversible capacity of 250 mAh/g even after 300 cycles at a rate of 1 C. This study describes a new possibility of using environmentally harmful combustion wastes of petroleum coke as a low-price anode material for LIBs by converting them into a graphite multilayer structure with a unique ring shape through annealing.