Turning Weakness into Strength: The Comeback of China's Needle Coke

Sinopec Dalian Petrochemical Research Institute Needle Coke is the star product of petroleum-based high-end carbon materials, an essential aggregate for graphite electrodes, a key conductive material for low-emission steelmaking, and a high-quality raw material for the production of high-capacity lithium battery anode materials. The development of high-end carbon materials represented by high-quality needle coke can promote the realization of the "double carbon" goal and the high integration of the development of new quality productivity, and become an important way for petrochemical enterprises to "oil to special" and "oil to material".01 Technical introductionDalian Institute (FRIPP) began to lay out the technology research and development of needle coke since 2007, when the quality of needle coke in China was poor, and high-end products were heavily dependent on imports, which once became one of the "bottleneck" problems restricting the rapid development of China's steelmaking, new energy and other industries. After more than ten years of unremitting efforts, Dalian Institute formed the "THTD production of high-quality needle coke technology" with independent intellectual property rights in 2017, successfully breaking the foreign technology monopoly and realizing import substitution.

Image: https://ecdn6.globalso.com/upload/p/757/image_other/2025-05/1661476329646-1.jpg

In 2025, the technology won the gold medal at the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva.

02 Advanced elaborationThe "THTD Production of High-quality Needle Coke Technology" developed by Dalian Institute solves the problems of large operation fluctuations and unstable product quality in the production process of needle coke, and significantly improves the application performance and stability of the product. Based on the production mode of variable temperature and variable raw materials necessary for needle coke, this technology proposes the progressive reaction technology of zonal heating and series control to achieve stable temperature at the outlet of the heating furnace and the smooth operation of single feeding. At the same time, based on the theory of liquid phase carbonization and airflow coking, this technology creates the best reaction system that is conducive to the needs of each stage of thermal reaction by adjusting the characteristics of raw materials and controlling operating conditions at different stages, so as to ensure the product performance of high-quality needle coke. In the first year of the "15th Five-Year Plan", Dalian Institute will take the development of multi-grade special needle coke and its application performance verification as the next breakthrough direction, and strive to create a series of needle coke products with "high quality, stable production and excellent application". The R&D team carried out targeted optimization of the whole chain from raw material indicators, process parameters to production operations, adopted the strategy of "one raw material, one process", and accurately controlled the reaction heat difference between materials by scientifically matching operating parameters, so as to achieve effective control of the directional development of the intermediate phase. At the same time, the application performance verification of the optimized product is continuously carried out to point out the optimization direction for process iteration. 03 Application effect 01.15 million tons/year high-end graphite industrial plant

At the end of 2020, the first 150,000 tons/year high-end graphite material plant built using the THTD catalytic oil slurry production technology independently developed by Dalian Institute was successfully put into operation and has been in stable operation since Jinling Petrochemical, achieving a "zero breakthrough" in the continuous and stable production of high-quality needle coke by Sinopec, verifying the leading advantage and reliable efficiency of Dalian Institute's needle coke technology. 02 Ultra-high power graphite electrode is developed with needle coke

Dalian Institute continues to carry out high-end technical research on needle coke products for ultra-high power graphite electrodes. In 2024, relying on the technology of Dalian Institute, Jinling calcined needle coke will complete the industrial production of 600mm ultra-high-power graphite electrodes and complete the use of steel mills, realizing import substitution, which is the first case of Sinopec. The same batch of industrial needle coke products passed the evaluation test of international professional evaluation institutions for the first time, reaching the level of high-quality needle coke. In 2025, the 700mm ultra-high power graphite electrode products prepared by Jinling forging needle coke were successfully delivered by Nantong Yangzi Carbon Company, and then successfully completed the verification of steel mill use. After testing, the indicators of graphite electrodes meet the technical indicators of the same specifications in YB/T4090-2015, marking that Sinopec's needle coke products have reached a new level in the high-end application of graphite electrodes. 03 Needle coke development for joints Compared with the needle coke for graphite electrode body, the needle coke products for joints have more stringent requirements for the production process of needle coke, relying on the technology of Dalian Institute to achieve stable mass production of joint coke, and in 2025, the industrial production of 450-500mm electrode joints and downstream steel mill applications will be completed for the first time. After testing, all indicators meet the requirements of YB/T 4910-2021 technical indicators. 04 Development of needle focal for high-capacity anode materials

The R&D team successfully developed the "special needle coke preparation technology for high-capacity anode materials" and successfully realized the production of high-capacity needle coke. In 2024, the needle coke products for anode materials based on Dalian Institute technology will be evaluated by downstream authoritative anode enterprises, and the discharge specific capacity will reach 359.6 mAh/g for the first time, which is comparable to imported high-capacity products, marking that Sinopec's needle coke products have entered the high-end ranks in the field of lithium-ion battery anode materials.

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