High-End Needle Coke: The Innovative Journey in the Field of Ultra-High Power Graphite Electrodes

What is Needle Coke?‌
Needle coke is a high-performance carbonaceous raw material with a metallic luster, silver-gray color, and a fibrous or needle-like surface texture. It has a greasy feel, contains a small number of large internal pores, and is generally elliptical in shape. It exhibits excellent electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and thermal shock resistance, with a low coefficient of thermal expansion. It is widely used in fields such as steelmaking graphite electrodes and aerospace, and has become a hot and key research topic in the field of materials both domestically and internationally in recent years.

How is Needle Coke Classified?‌
Needle coke can be classified into coal-based needle coke and petroleum-based needle coke based on its raw material source. Coal-based needle coke is produced from coal tar, coal tar pitch, or flash oil through high-temperature carbonization. Petroleum-based needle coke is produced from ethylene tar, vacuum residue, thermal cracking residue, catalytic cracking oil slurry, and other raw materials through high-temperature carbonization. Due to its advantages such as low sulfur content, low ash content, low metal content, and ease of graphitization, petroleum-based needle coke has become the main raw material for artificial graphite. However, its production cost is relatively high, and it has high requirements for raw materials.

What are the Applications of Needle Coke in Different Fields?‌
The main applications of needle coke can be divided into three categories: high-power graphite electrodes, special carbon materials, and lithium-ion battery anode materials. High-power graphite electrodes made from needle coke can be used in electric arc furnaces for steelmaking. Electric arc furnace steelmaking has advantages such as low pollution and low energy consumption, and has been rapidly promoted in steel enterprises. High-power graphite electrodes made from needle coke have advantages such as low thermal expansion coefficient, high electrical conductivity, and high mechanical strength, enabling efficient heating and melting of metals in electric arc furnaces. As an anode material, needle coke, as a soft carbon, has advantages such as ease of graphitization and low cost. After high-temperature heat treatment, it is prepared into artificial graphite, which has good cycle stability and high specific capacity.

‌Graphite Electrode: Properties and Classification‌

Graphite electrodes are primarily used in electric arc furnaces (EAF) for steelmaking, submerged arc furnaces, and resistance furnaces. Due to the environmental advantages of EAF steelmaking over blast furnace steelmaking, policies in various countries are increasingly favoring the EAF steelmaking industry. As the scale of EAF steelmaking continues to expand, the demand for graphite electrodes is being driven upward. In China, 70%–80% of total graphite electrode consumption is used as materials for EAF steelmaking.

Graphite electrodes are classified into three categories based on their quality indicators: ‌Regular Power (RP)‌, ‌High Power (HP)‌, and ‌Ultra-High Power (UHP)‌. In terms of composition, RP electrodes use petroleum coke as the sole aggregate; in HP electrodes, petroleum coke and needle coke account for 70% and 30% of the aggregate, respectively; and in UHP electrodes, needle coke constitutes 100% of the aggregate.

Among these, UHP graphite electrodes are further categorized into different grades based on diameter. Large-diameter UHP electrodes exhibit lower resistivity, lower thermal expansion coefficients, and better thermal shock resistance. In the metallurgical industry, they can significantly improve the production efficiency of EAF steelmaking while reducing power consumption and electrode consumption, effectively promoting the green and low-carbon development of the energy industry. However, as the diameter of UHP electrodes increases, the difficulty of controlling thermal expansion also increases, requiring higher technical indicators for the needle coke aggregate in terms of electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and strength to maintain structural uniformity and thermal shock resistance during use.

‌Market Situation of Ultra-High Power Graphite Electrodes‌

According to statistics from relevant institutions, in 2024, China's graphite electrode production reached 637,700 tons. Among them, the production of RP electrodes was 72,300 tons, HP electrodes was 192,800 tons, and UHP electrodes was 372,600 tons. Compared with 2023, the annual production increased by 4.9%. In 2025, the proportion of EAF steel in China is expected to rise from 10% to 15%–20%. With the increase in EAF steel production, the total demand for UHP graphite electrodes is expected to further increase in the future.