Monitoring the synthesis of new pitches from coal tar and its fractions by chromatography and related techniques.

The aim of this paper is to study the applications of chromatography and related techniques in the transformation of coal-derived products into pitches for specific uses. Anthracene oil, tar and pitch were thermally treated in the presence of air (and sulfur in the case of anthracene oil) in order to cause the polymerization/condensation of their components. The evolution of the components of the parent materials during the treatments was monitored by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, gas chromatography-atomic emission detection, probe mass spectrometry and size-exclusion chromatography. From the results obtained, possible mechanisms for the transformation of coal-derived products into new pitches were established.