Chemistry and Properties of Carbon Fiber Feedstocks from Bitumen Asphaltenes

Published July 16, 2024

Gas-phase fragmentation mass spectra (MS/MS) show bad (top right) and good (bottom right) materials for carbon fiber production. Bad materials have many single-core, high-molecular-weight hydrocarbons and sulfur-containing molecules, which don't make stable carbon fibers.

MagLab researchers use 21 tesla ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) mass spectrometry to identify the best way to produce carbon fibers from petroleum waste products. The best carbon fibers are made from molecules that don’t contain sulfur or large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon structures, and these bad molecules can be converted to better precursors by mild thermal treatment.

What did scientists discover?

Low-cost petroleum feedstocks are rich in asphaltenes that can be used to make carbon fiber. Using ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (21T FT-ICR MS), scientists measured the mass of asphaltene molecules. They found that good carbon fiber precursors have more low molecular weight building blocks and fewer sulfur-containing molecules, distinguishing them from poor precursors.

Why is this important?

Carbon fibers are crucial for applications like aerospace and medical devices, but they are usually made from expensive polyacrylonitrile. By understanding the complex makeup of asphaltenes, we can transform them into carbon fibers. This allows low-cost petroleum feedstocks to be processed into excellent carbon fiber precursors through thermal treatment. Using these materials could cut production costs by 90% and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Who did the research?

Martha L. Chacón-Patiño,¹ Anika Neumann,² Christopher P. Rüger,² Paolo G. Bomben,³ Lukas Friederici,² Ralf Zimmermann,² Erik Frank,⁴ Philipp Kreis,⁴ Michael R. Buchmeiser,⁴ and Murray R. Gray³

¹National High Magnetic Field Laboratory; ²Joint Mass Spectrometry Centre, University of Rostock, Germany; ³Alberta Innovates, Canada; ⁴German Institutes of Textile- and Fiber Research, Denkendorf, Germany

Why did they need the MagLab?

The MagLab 21-tesla ICR mass spectrometer can uniquely identify the complex mix of molecules in asphaltenes, helping to pinpoint the features needed for high-quality carbon fibers. Using 21T FT-ICR MS with gas-phase fragmentation to study asphaltene samples can guide the improvement of petroleum feedstocks into good carbon fiber precursors.

Details for scientists

View or download the expert-level Science Highlight, Chemistry and Properties of Carbon Fiber Feedstocks from Bitumen Asphaltenes
Read the full-length publication, Chemistry and Properties of Carbon Fiber Feedstocks from Bitumen Asphaltenes, in Energy Fuels, Data Set.

Funding

This research was funded by the following grants: G.S. Boebinger (NSF DMR-1644779 & DMR-2128556); Zimmermann (EU_FT-ICR MS, 731077, and DFG INST 264/56)

For more information, contact Chris Hendrickson.