A method and apparatus are provided for processing hydrocarbon coal slurry feeds. The method and apparatus enhance the conversion of the coal feeds into useful conversion products, such as high melting and high carbon containing pitch products. In particular, the present techniques utilize a specially designed self-cleaning and wall-catalyzed preheater-reactor systems.

A method is disclosed for making a slurry catalyst concentrate. The method includes reducing an average particle size of a first hydrotreating catalyst component to produce a reduced hydrotreating catalyst component having a reduced average particle size, wherein first hydrotreating catalyst component comprises one or more active metal components selected from Group VIB, Group VIII, and Group II metals; and mixing the reduced hydrotreating catalyst with a renewable liquid carrier composition in a mixing vessel to provide a slurry catalyst concentrate comprising 1 to 60 wt. % of the reduced hydrotreating catalyst component in the renewable liquid carrier composition.

A method is disclosed for preparing a slurry catalyst for use in upgrading a renewable feedstock. The method includes the steps of (a) providing a rework material obtained from a process of making a supported hydroprocessing catalyst, the hydroprocessing catalyst comprising a support and an active component supported thereon, wherein the rework material has an average particle size of from 1 to 300 m; (b) mixing the rework material with a liquid component to form a slurry catalyst precursor, wherein the liquid component is selected from the renewable feedstock and a liquid carrier, wherein the liquid carrier is a polyol and/or a recycled renewable feedstock comprising heavy and/or unconverted fractions from a slurry hydroprocessing process; and (c) sulfiding the slurry catalyst precursor forming the slurry catalyst.

A pitch-based graphite composite material, a preparation method therefor and an application thereof are provided. The graphite is coated with pitch gel spheres, and a core-shell composite structure of pitch carbon microsphere coated graphite is obtained through pyrolysis and carbonization, so that the contact between a graphite surface and an electrolyte can be effectively reduced, a stable SEI film can be generated, and the SEI film has good rate and cycle performance. In addition, a porous structure formed by gas generated by pyrolysis and carbonization is beneficial to the transportation of lithium ions, the conductivity and reversible capacity of the material can be significantly improved, the material is more stable in the charging and discharging processes of the lithium-ion battery, the risks of stripping and cracking are effectively reduced, and the cycle stability and the rate capability of the battery are improved.