Carbon Raw Materials

for the Aluminum

Industry

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Les Edwards, Rain CII Carbon
Metal Bulletin
30th International Aluminum
Industry Conference
Sept. 21-23, 2015

1
Overview

•Introduction

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•Carbon raw materials for aluminum production
•CPC and CTP production
•Global production and demand outlook
•Responding to challenges
•Wrapping up

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 Rain CII & Rütgers
• Rain CII - Global producer of CPC ~2m t/yr. Acquired Rütgers in 2013.
• Rütgers - Global CTP producer with ~1.5 m t/yr of coal tar distillation

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capacity. Produce a wide range of chemical products derived from coal
tar which provides diversification to the business.
• Together – a unique carbon company supplying complimentary products
with a focus on developing a better value anode.

Coal tar distillation Carbon black feedstock oil

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Pet-coke calcining
Carbon Anode Raw Materials
All Three are Byproducts!
“Binder”
• Anodes made with a

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mixture of CPC
(~64%), CTP (~14%)
& recycled butts
(~22%)
• Typically weigh 1.0-
1.3 tons. CTP liquid (~200oC) CPC + recycled butts
• NCC ~0.42 and gross
carbon consumption
~0.58 tons/ton Al.

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Baked Anode Spent Anode (Butt)
CPC/GPC Production
• CPC is produced by “calcining” GPC (green petroleum coke) at a
temperature of 1200-1300oC.

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• GPC produced as a byproduct at oil refineries with delayed cokers.
• CPC quality strongly dependent on GPC quality. Aluminum industry
requires relatively low S and metals levels (V, Ni, etc)

Typical Typical Fuel

Anode GPC Coke
Blend
Sulfur % 2.5-3.8 4.5-9.0
Vanadium ppm 300-450 1500-2500
Nickel ppm 150-200 300-600
Structure Sponge Sponge/Shot
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Delayed coker
CPC Production
•Rotary kiln calciners most
common technology in western

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world.
•Highly automated and good
heat recovery potential –
renewable energy classification
in many US states.

VM

Green Coke

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Shaft Calciners
• Preferred technology in China and
rapid growth over the last 5 years.

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• Level of automation has evolved and
large scale plants now being built
(500kt/yr).
• Much longer residence time – 36hrs
vs 1hr. Green Coke
Air

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Flue Gas
Water Jacket
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Calcined Coke
CTP Production
• CTP produced from distillation of coal tar with yield of ~50%. Other
distillation products have significant additional value.

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• Coal tar produced as a byproduct from metallurgical coke
production in coke oven batteries. Met. coke used in blast furnaces.
• Tars sourced from different suppliers with different quality
characteristics & blended prior to distillation.
D BTX ~ 2%
Bituminous Coal Coke Oven Gas I
S Naphthalene
Crude Benzene T ~ 10%
Coke Oven ~1%
Battery I
L
L
Metallurgical Coke Coal Tar A Tar Oils
~80% ~3.5% T ~ 35%
I
O
BLAST FURNACE Coal Tar Pitch
N ~ 50%
= Steel
Coke Oven Battery 8
Coal Tar Pitch
• Key coal tar pitch quality parameters for aluminum industry are
softening point (110-130oC), QI (quinolone insoluble) content (4-

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16%) and toluene insoluble (TI) content (20-40%).
• CTP contains poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH’s) so special care
needed for handling.
• Most smelters take CTP in liquid form to minimize OH&S risks.

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Global GPC and CPC Production
No shortage of GPC but average quality declining

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Green Coke Production
2014 Industry Data
133 Million WMT
37 96 Fuel Applications
Higher Quality (lower S, metals, sponge coke)
Calcining Industry
27 Million DMT
21 6.0 TiO2, graphite, steel,
and other uses

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Aluminum Industry
GPC Prices
Shortage of Low S/V GPC = Higher Price

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Source: Jacobs Consultancy: Pace Petroleum Coke Quarterly
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What is Driving Shortage of Low S GPC?
• Major consolidation in oil industry with fewer companies – ExxonMobil,
BP, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell etc.

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• Refiners use sophisticated linear programs to optimize crude blends
and crudes sourced opportunistically.
• Many new crude fields contain heavier, more sour crudes which get
priced at discount to light sweet crude.
• Major capital investments made in refineries to allow them to process
heavier crudes.
• New refineries being built in China, Middle East and India are typically
geared towards production of heavy crudes.
• Rapid growth in production of shale crude is the latest change to impact
US crude oil and refining industry.
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Global Tar Production and CTP Changes

• Global tar production is levelling off at ~25m t/yr.

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• Global met. coke production has been decreasing due to increased use
of pulverized coal and declining Chinese steel & coke production
(environmental and growth related).
• Global steel consumption has grown at slowest rate in many years due
to emerging markets slowdown (China, Brazil, Russia) offset by modest
growth in N.America and Europe.
• QI levels vary by region and depend on age and operation of coke ovens.
• Anode plants have demonstrated that good quality anodes can be
made with low (3-7%) or high QI (10-15%) pitches.
• Global pressure on EH&S is reshaping the industry and its product
portfolio in search of lower PAH CTP and other products.
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CPC and CTP Demand – Current & Projected
Primary Al Forecast Range: 69m-74m tons

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CPC and CTP Use and Demand
35.0

30.0 CPC 29m t/yr

22.8 27m t/r
Millions of Tons

25.0

20.0

15.0

10.0 CTP
5.0
5.0 6.2m

0.0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Industry will need additional 4.6 – 6.0m tons of CPC and 1.0 -
1.4m tons CTP by 2020 based on primary aluminum forecasts.
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CPC and CTP Outlook
• Current market is difficult for everyone.
• Anode grade CPC prices driven by GPC prices. Low S GPC prices not

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linked to fuel coke and energy prices.
• Challenge for the CPC industry over next 5yrs will not be adding
4.5-6m tons of calcining capacity but sourcing GPC.
• China has recently signed new law (Jan 2016) banning production
and import/export of “unqualified” high sulfur petcoke. Could have
large impact for industry in terms of low S GPC balance/cost.
• Regional tightness in coal tar supply will remain. Further steel plant
closures could create additional problems.
• Rütgers set to startup Severtar JV in Russia later this year (300kt/yr
distillation capacity).

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Responding to Challenges
Carbon Raw Materials
• Changing CPC specifications has significantly improved ability to use

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cheaper, plentiful GPC sources.
• Above work has required significant collaboration and testing with
smelter partners. Rain CII has been very active in this effort and
shared results through technical publications including joint papers .
• Changing (increasing) vanadium specification has provided greatest
leverage in reducing CPC cost.
• Past concerns about increased “airburn” of anodes have been
mitigated by improvements in cell design and anode cover practices.
• Metal purity concerns specific to product mix at smelter. V level
increases thus far are well under limits for products like P1020.

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Impact for the Aluminum Industry
CPC Specifications – US & India Operations

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Most Changes Have Been in Last 5 Yrs
Vanadium Level by Year

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0.040
0.038
0.036
0.034
0.032
0.030
Vanadium (%)

0.028
0.026
0.024
0.022
0.020
0.018
0.016
0.014

Shipment Specification 18
GPC/CPC Changes
• Isotropic cokes now used routinely
in blends after extensive testing.

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Can bring additional cost and
density benefits.
• Introduction of anode slots and
high G/S recipes has helped.
• Blending of CPC by smelters now
common. Allows smelters to
diversify supply risk and source
strategically to reduce cost.
• Shaft and rotary kiln CPC being
blended to capitalize on positive
attributes of each.
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Coal Tar Pitch
• Trend towards use of higher softening point pitches to improve
anode quality (higher coking value) and reduce PAH emissions.

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• Higher coking value = higher density and lower electrical
resistivity.
• Rütgers successfully developed very high melting pitches or resins
for carbon bonded refractory brick industry in early 2000’s.
Potential to use these binders for future anode production.
14000 Baked Apparent Density
B[a]P content of binder [ppm]

Baked Apparent Density [kg/dm 3 ]

12000
CTP 112M HMR180M
10000
1.66
8000 1.65
6000
1.64
1.63
4000
1.62
2000 1.61
0 1.6
112 130 150 180 12 13 14 15 16
Mettler Softening Point of binder [°C] Pitch Level [%]
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Rain CII and Rutgers Together
• Very active program to explore optimization of the CTP/CPC
system to produce better value anodes.

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• Optimistic that industry will continue to adapt to future raw
materials challenges.

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Wrapping Up

• CPC and CTP are essential raw materials used for the production

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of aluminum.
• Industry has dealt well with changes in carbon raw material
quality - collaborative effort required.
• Availability of low sulfur, low metals GPC will continue to present
challenge for industry.
• Impact of new law in China related to production/sale of high S
GPC unclear at this stage but could be very significant for industry.
• Slowdown in global steel production will continue to result in
regional shortages of tar supply.
• Rain CII and Rütgers well positioned to help industry develop
better value anodes.
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