ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Kinetics of extraction of coal-tar pitch components with supercritical carbon dioxide

S. Marković, Z. Marković, R. I. McCrindle, and B. R. Simonović

Faculty of Science, University of Kragujevac, POB 60, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia

E-mail: mark@kg.ac.yu

Received: 17 March 2006  Revised: 3 August 2006  Accepted: 7 September 2006

Abstract: The extraction of a coal-tar pitch with supercritical carbon dioxide was performed under optimal pressure, flow rate, and three different constant temperatures. The extraction kinetics was examined for each temperature and it was surprisingly found that the extraction rate of most components was governed by the first-order kinetics. It was assumed that this deviation from typical models of supercritical fluid extraction kinetics was caused by high pitch concentrations and low solubilities of the components.

Keywords: coal-tar pitch - supercritical fluid extraction - carbon dioxide - polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - kinetics

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-006-0094-9

Chemical Papers 61 (1) 46–50 (2007)