An eco-friendly pitch from charcoal was produced by the specialists at RUSAL's ETC. Together with scientists from the Siberian Federal University and a number of Russian institutes, they worked on creating an alternative binder. The technology provides a two-fold reduction in Benz[a]pyrene emissions.
The eco-friendly pitch based on heavy highly aromatic oil residues and coal tar was designed by specialists of RUSAL ETC together with scientists of the Postovsky Institute of Organic Synthesis, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IOS, Yekaterinburg), and the Eastern Research Institute of Coal Chemistry (VUKhIN, Yekaterinburg).
The new material provides a more than two-fold reduction in Benz[a]pyrene emissions. In comparison with other known alternative binders, EcoPitch can be produced on existing equipment of coking plants and used in the anode production of aluminium smelters.
The efficiency of EcoPitch has been demonstrated in the course of industrial tests at RUSAL smelters.
EcoPitch can be used not only at aluminium smelters to produce anodes, but also in a number of other industries, such as the electrode industry.