Method for Calcined Petroleum Coke Evaluation to Improve the Anode Quality

Worldwide, the quality of petroleum cokePetroleum coke, used for making carbon anodeCarbon anode for aluminium smeltersAluminium smelter, is getting degraded with an increase in the impurities and higher presence of shot coke particles. Earlier studies reported that some of the anodeAnode problemsProblems like slabbing and vertical cracking are linked to the thermal shock resistance of coke material, which is majorly influenced by the structure of calcined petroleum coke (CPCCalcined Petroleum Coke (CPC)). Therefore, a detailed method of optical microscopic analysis was establishedEstablished and successfully applied to evaluate CPCCalcined Petroleum Coke (CPC) materials. The analysis of most of the samples was found to have the presence of sponge and isotropic structure. The findings of the optical microscopy have been correlated with the visual identification of shot, sponge and needle coke. The visual identification of different coke particles enables its integration with digital image processingDigital image processing techniques for ease of quantification of specific coke material.