MANUFACTURING OF CARBON-CONTAINING PARTICLES

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a carbon-containing particulate product. A starting material containing a carbonisable precursor material and/or carbon is dispersed in a gas and is conducted through a reaction zone in which at least some of the carbon contained in the product is formed, the gas flowing in a pulsed manner at least in the reaction zone

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A method for manufacturing a carbon-containing particulate product, comprising: a starting material containing a carbonisable precursor material and/or carbon is dispersed in a gas and conducted through a reaction zone, in which at least some of the carbon contained in the product is formed, wherein the gas flows in a pulsed manner at least in the reaction zone.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the carbon-containing particulate product is suitable as an anode material for a battery.

18. The method according to claim 16, wherein the carbon-containing particulate product has a specific discharge capacity for a charge carrier selected from Li, Na, Al, Mg, Zn, which capacity is at least 100 mAh per gram.

19. The method according to claim 16, wherein the gas and the material dispersed therein are conducted in such a way that at least some of the starting material remains continuously dispersed in the gas and is reacted in the gas at least down to the carbon-containing particulate product.

20. The method according to claim 16, wherein in the reaction zone at least some of the carbonisable precursor material is carbonised and at least some of the carbon contained in the product is formed therefrom.

21. The method according to claim 16, wherein the starting material contains a submicromaterial precursor, for example a submicroparticle precursor, and/or a submicromaterial, for example submicroparticles, or a submicromaterial precursor and/or a submicromaterial is/are dispersed in the gas.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the submicromaterial precursor is reacted to form a submicromaterial.

23. The method according to claim 21, wherein the submicromaterial comprises a storage material for a charge carrier selected from Li, Na, Al, Mg, Zn, which capacity is at least 100 mAh per gram.

24. The method according to claim 16, wherein the starting material is at least partially liquid.

25. The method according to claim 16, wherein the carbonisable precursor material is selected from pitches, bitumen, heavy oils, resins, polyacrylonitriles, polyimides, carbohydrates, lignins, polyethylenes, polystyrenes, polyvinyl chlorides or mixtures thereof and/or the carbon contained in the starting material is selected from among coke particles, carbon black particles, graphite particles, expanded graphite particles, graphenes, ground carbon fibres, carbon nanotubes or vapour-grown carbon fibres or mixtures thereof.

26. The method according to claim 16, wherein the gas in which the starting material is dispersed contains an inert gas component, for example He, Ar, or N2.

27. The method according to claim 16, wherein the gas and the material dispersed therein are conducted concurrently with one another.

28. The method according to claim 16, wherein the gas and the material dispersed therein are conducted countercurrently to one another.

29. A carbon-containing particulate product, for example anode material for a battery, comprising: at least partially inaccessible matrix regions for xylene in the pycnometric determination of the density, wherein the product has a pycnometrically determined density that is at least 10% lower than a ground sample of the same carbonised particulate material, and a sphericity ψ in the range of 0.35 to 1.

30. A use of the particulate product according to claim 29 for producing an anode for a battery.

Description

[0079] The invention is illustrated by the following figures without being restricted thereto.

[0080] FIGS. 1 to 3 show diagrams of systems for carrying out methods according to the invention.

[0081] A method according to the invention for producing a carbon-containing, particulate product, which is suitable as anode material for a battery, may be carried out in systems as schematically shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. In this case, a starting material, for example a dispersion containing silicon submicroparticles, pitch and xylene, is sprayed into a mixing chamber 3 from a storage container 1 via a pump 2 and a nozzle (not shown here). The pitch is a carbonisable precursor material. The amount of xylene is chosen such that the starting material is at least partially liquid and is flowable enough to be conveyed through the pump. In addition, the starting material could in particular also contain carbon, for example dispersed graphite particles and/or soot particles. The starting material is dispersed in a gas via the nozzle 5 and conducted via the pulsation unit 4 into the mixing chamber 3. The gas supplied via the gas inlet 5 may, for example, consist predominantly of molecular nitrogen and may contain reactive components such as, for example, hydrocarbons, and very small amounts of molecular oxygen. The starting material dispersed in the gas is conducted through a reaction zone 7 located in a reactor 6 equipped with a heating jacket. The material dispersed in the gas is heated in the reaction zone 7 to a temperature of 800° C. to 1400° C., so that pitch is carbonised in the reaction zone 7, and thus at least some of the carbon contained in the product is formed therefrom. The pulsation unit 4 ensures that the gas flows in a pulsed manner at least in the reaction zone 7, and pulsates, for example, at a frequency of 500 Hz. In the pulsation unit 4, a pressure gradient is maintained across a passage, which opens and closes alternatingly at the desired frequency, so that a pressure pulse maximum occurs immediately behind the passage in the gas flow direction whenever gas flows via the opened passage, and a pressure pulse minimum occurs immediately behind the passage in the gas flow direction whenever the passage is closed. The pressure waves generated in this way propagate through the reaction zone 7. The gas and the material dispersed therein are conducted in such a way that the starting material remains continuously dispersed in the gas and is reacted in the gas to form the carbon-containing particulate product. The gases discharged from the reaction zone 7 and the particulate product dispersed therein are mixed in a cooling zone 9 with a cooling gas supplied via the cooling gas inlet 8 and then conducted into the particle separator 10. The particulate product is obtained from the particle separator via particle outlet 12. Gaseous components of the flow conducted into particle separator 10 pass through gas outlet 11.

[0082] In the systems according to FIGS. 2 and 3, the starting material dispersed in the gas is first passed through a pretreatment zone 13. The starting material dispersed in the gas is heated in the pretreatment zone 13 to a temperature of 100° C. to 300° C. Even small amounts of molecular oxygen in this case may function as an initiator of radical reactions, which result in a desired crosslinking of low-volatility organic components of the starting material.

[0083] FIG. 3 indicates that not all of the supplied gas has to be conducted through the pulsation unit 4 and that the pulsation unit does not have to be located upstream of the mixing chamber 3. In the example shown here, of two gas inlets 5A, 5B, one gas inlet 5A leads directly into the mixing chamber 3 and the other gas inlet 5B leads directly into the pulsation unit 4.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0084] 1 Storage container [0085] 2 Pump [0086] 3 Mixing chamber [0087] 4 Pulsation unit [0088] 5, 5A, 5B Gas inlet [0089] 6 Reactor [0090] 7 Reaction zone [0091] 8 Cooling gas inlet [0092] 9 Cooling zone [0093] 10 Particle separator [0094] 11 Gas outlet [0095] 12 Particle outlet [0096] 13 Pre-treatment zone