Engineering & Technologies, 2016, 9(5), 714-723 ~ ~ ~ УДК 669.717:629.4.027.4 Study of Alternative Methods for Preparing the Pitch Binder for the Anode Paste Elena N. Marakushina*a Denis G. Lazareva Petr N. Kuznetsovb , Vladimir K. Frizorgera , Mikhail I. Kraka , , and Fedor A. Buryukinc a «RUSAL ETC», LLC 37/1 Pogranichnikov Str., Krasnoyarsk, 660111, Russia bInstitute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of SB RAS 50/24 Academgorodok, Krasnoyarsk, 660036, Russia c Siberian Federal University 79 Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russia Received 11.03.2016, received in revised form 16.04.2016, accepted 22.06.2016 Aluminium smelting industry is the biggest consumer of coal tar pitch, but the use of pitch causes numerous problems because of some economic and environmental factors. <...> At the same time stricter environmental sanctions related to the use of coal tar pitch as a source of cancer-inducing emissions, are supporting the search for alternative raw materials and the development of new pitch binder production techniques. <...> Given that the known reserves of bituminous coal will be suffi cient to last for 230 years at the current production rates as opposed to the oil reserves that will be enough for 40 years only, it becomes obvious that the development of a pitch binder production technique based on thermochemical processing of coals is a promising direction to follow. <...> Investigations were carried out to dissolve coals thermo-chemically in various organic solvents at varying levels of temperature, pressure, and reaction times. <...> It was shown how mechanic activation and ultrasonic exposure affect the degree of organic coal mass extraction. <...> The methods of vacuum and atmospheric distillation were used to produce pitch products from coal extracts. <...> It was demonstrated that the use of coking additives, including nano-modifi ed carbon, helps improve the application properties of pitch products. <...> Large-sized samples of coal tar pitch were used to produce trial lots of anode paste for Soederberg anodes. <...> Keywords: Coal tar pitch, coal extraction, mechanoactivation, coal destruction, coal conversion, carbon nanomaterials, anode mass. Citation: Marakushina E.N., Frizorger V.K., Lazarev D.G. <...>