Production of binders for carbon electrodes from petroleum sources

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PREPARING A CARBONACEOUS BINDER FOR CARBON ELECTRODE SAID BINDER HAVING A SOFTENING POINT IN THE RANGE OF 70* TO 120* C., A HYDROGEN TO CARBON ATOM RATIO OF LESS THAN 1 AND LESS THAN THE FEED AND A SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF 1.2 TO 1.3 WHICH CONSISTS OF THE STEPS OF ADMIXING FROM 1/2 TO 6/1 PARTS OF A CRACKED, HIGHLY AROMATIC PETROLEUM FRACTION CONTAINING AT LEAST ABOUT 50 WEIGHT PERCENT AROMATICS AND HAVING A MINIMUM BOILING POINT OF ABOUT 650* F. WITH A PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED, TO THE EXTENT OF 100 TO 800 S.C.F. OF HYDROGEN/BBL., CRACKED, HIGHLY AROMATIC PETROLEUM FRACTION SAID AROMATIC FRACTION CONTAINING AT LEAST ABOUT 50 WEIGHT PERCENT AROMATICS AND HAVING A MINIMUM BOILING POINT OF ABOUT 700* F.; THERMALLY AND NON-CATALYTICALLY CRACKING THE MIXTURE IN THE LIQUID PHASE AT 0.25-10V./V./HR., A PRESSURE IN THE RANGE OF 100 TO 2500 P.S.I.G., AT A TEMPERATURE IN THE RANGE OF 800* TO 1000* F. AND STRIPPING THE RESULTANT PRODUCT AT A MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 525* F. AND SUBATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE OF LESS THAN 20 MM. HG TO PRODUCE THE DESIRED BINDER.