KR20170059761A

KR20170059761A - Device for manufacturing carbon nanotube aggregates and carbon nanotube aggregates manufactired using same

Info

Publication number: KR20170059761A
Application number: KR1020150164136A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 김주한; 김지은; 오유진; 이영호; 최용진
Original assignee: 주식회사 엘지화학
Priority date: 2015-11-23
Filing date: 2015-11-23
Publication date: 2017-05-31
Also published as: KR102044053B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing carbon nanotube (CNT) aggregates, and a method for producing the CNT aggregates using the same. By designing a reaction area of the apparatus for producing the CNT aggregates in a helical form, a time remaining in the reaction area during the synthesis of the CNT aggregates increases, enabling the production of aggregates made up of long CNT.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a device for manufacturing a carbon nanotube aggregate and a method for manufacturing the carbon nanotube aggregate using the same. BACKGROUND ART [0002]

The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing a carbon nanotube aggregate and a method for producing the carbon nanotube aggregate using the same.

Recently, with the development of electronic technology, electronic products have been miniaturized, highly integrated, high-performance and light-weighted. Accordingly, interest in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as an area of nano technology is increasing.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), a kind of carbon isotopes, have a diameter of several to several tens of nanometers and are several hundreds of micrometers to several millimeters long. Since their report in the journal Nature in 1991 by Dr Iijima in 1991, Due to its physical properties and high aspect ratio, research has been conducted in various fields. The inherent properties of these carbon nanotubes are due to the sp ² bonds of carbon, stronger than iron, lighter than aluminum, and exhibit electrical conductivity similar to that of metals. According to the number of nanotubes, single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), double-wall carbon nanotubes (DWNTs), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Multi- Wall carbon nanotube (MWNT), and can be divided into zigzag, armchair, and chiral structures depending on the asymmetry / chirality.

Carbon nanotubes can be classified into display devices, highly integrated memory devices, secondary cells and supercapacitors, hydrogen storage materials, chemical sensors, high strength / lightweight composite materials, static electricity elimination Composite materials, electromagnetic interference shielding (EMI / RFI shielding) materials, and the possibility of exceeding the limit of existing devices is being studied.

To date, most of the studies have focused on dispersing powdered carbon nanotubes as a reinforcing agent for composites, or for producing transparent conductive films using dispersion solutions, and have already been commercialized in some fields. However, in order to use carbon nanotubes in composite materials and transparent conductive films, dispersion of carbon nanotubes is important. Due to the strong van der Waals force of carbon nanotubes, they are dispersed at a high concentration and dispersed It is not easy to do. Also, in the case of a composite material in which carbon nanotubes are used as a reinforcement material, it is difficult to sufficiently manifest the excellent properties of carbon nanotubes.

Recently, carbon nanotube fibrillation researches have been carried out to fabricate carbon nanotube structures that fully manifest the properties of carbon nanotubes in recent years. The carbon nanotubes may be fabricated into aggregates having shapes such as CNT fibers, ribbons, mats, and the like to be used for new applications.

In particular, the carbon nanotube fiber can mean a material that combines structural and structural characteristics as a carbon material in a constituent element and fiber shape characteristics, and can be used for various purposes such as heat resistance, chemical stability, electrical thermal conductivity, dimensional stability due to low thermal expansion, It has characteristics such as abrasion property, X-ray permeability, electromagnetic wave shielding property, biocompatibility and flexibility, and it can impart adsorption characteristics depending on activation conditions. In particular, it can be suitably applied to materials requiring mechanical properties such as tensile strength and tensile elastic modulus.

Coagulation spinning, liquidcrystalline spinning, and direct spinning are typical examples of methods of forming fibers using a dispersion solution containing carbon nanotubes and a dispersant. Coagulation spinning is a method in which a dispersing solution containing carbon nanotubes and a dispersing agent is injected into a polymer solution to allow the dispersing agent in the dispersing solution to pass through the polymer solution and the polymer is substituted for the site to act as a binder, .

The liquid crystal spinning method is a method in which a carbon nanotube solution is fibrousized using a property of forming a liquid crystal under a specific condition. This method has the advantage of making carbon nanotube fibers with good orientation, but has a disadvantage in that the spinning speed is very slow and the conditions for liquid crystal formation of carbon nanotubes are difficult.

As shown in FIG. 1, the direct spinning method is a method in which carbon nanotubes are synthesized and transported in a heating furnace by injecting a liquid carbon source and a catalyst together with a carrier gas into an upper injection port by a vertically erected high temperature heating carbon nanotube aggregates that have been brought to the lower end of the heating furnace together with carrier gas are winded up inside the heating furnace (FIG. 1A) or outside (FIG. 1B) to obtain fibers. This method has the advantage of producing a large amount of carbon nanotube fibers at a spinning speed of up to 20 to 30 m / min compared with other methods. However, due to the nature of the fibrous particles, the carbon nanofiber particles may be twisted or coagulated again, It is very difficult to smoothly discharge the carbon nanofiber particles.

The carbon fiber may be produced by a vapor phase method in which a raw material for forming the carbon fiber and a catalyst are injected toward the inner wall of the reactor and reacted. The known vapor phase method employs a method in which a catalyst used in the initial synthesis of carbon fibers is injected toward the inner wall of the reactor and reacted. However, since the catalyst is formed by colliding with the inner wall of the reactor, the irregularity of the flow in the catalyst production region and the vicinity thereof is very large, and thus the distribution of the produced catalyst size is widened. In addition, since the catalyst used in the initial synthesis of carbon fibers is sprayed toward the inner wall of the reactor to produce branched carbon fibers, it is difficult to produce carbon fibers having uniform outer diameter.

In the reactor, the CNT aggregate is formed in the form of a hollow tube having an inner cavity. If the size of the pore is large, the mutual action of CNTs is weak and the strength of the produced fiber may be reduced.

Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus and a method for improving the process efficiency and economical efficiency, and improving the strength of the resultant product and the yield.

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for manufacturing a carbon nanotube aggregate capable of efficiently producing a carbon nanotube aggregate.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for producing a carbon nanotube aggregate using the above manufacturing apparatus.

The present invention also provides a carbon nanotube aggregate produced by the above production apparatus and method.

In order to solve the above problems,

A reactor body having a reaction zone;

A raw material supply unit provided at an upper end of the reaction zone;

Heating means for heating the reaction zone; And

A carbon nanotube aggregate discharging unit installed at a lower end of the reaction zone;

/ RTI >

The reaction zone is spiral, and the raw material is carbonized and graphitized while flowing downward spirally in the reactor body, thereby forming a continuous aggregate of carbon nanotubes.

According to one embodiment, the reactor body may consist of a spiral reactor.

According to another embodiment, the reactor body may be a vertical reactor and a structure capable of forming a helical reaction zone therein.

The helical reaction zone may be circular, elliptical, polygonal or a combination thereof in cross-section.

In addition, the helical reaction zone may be such that the cross-sectional area is uniform or varies along the flow direction.

Also, the reactor body may be vertical, and the angle at which the helical reaction zone rotates relative to the vertical axis of the reactor body may be constant or varying.

The supply part and the discharge part may be independently provided at an angle of 0 degree with respect to the vertical axis of the reactor body or at an angle of 0 degree with respect to the flow path central axis of the helical reaction area.

According to one embodiment, the apparatus may further comprise a winding means downstream of the discharge portion.

The present invention also provides a method for producing a carbon nanotube aggregate using the apparatus.

The method comprises:

Injecting the feedstock into the reaction zone with the carrier gas through the feedstock;

The raw material injected into the reaction zone reacts while moving down the reaction zone in a spiral manner to continuously form an aggregate of carbon nanotubes;

And collecting the formed carbon nanotube aggregate through an outlet.

The aggregate of carbon nanotubes may be initially formed of a hollow tube-shaped carbon nanotube aeroge, but may be formed into a fiber shape by being contracted while a tensile force is applied by a winding means provided downstream of the discharge port.

And the linear velocity of the carrier gas injected into the supply pipe may be 10 to 5000 cm / min.

The present invention also provides a carbon nanotube aggregate produced by the above method.

The carbon nanotube aggregate may be a carbon nanotube fiber or a mat.

Other details of the embodiments of the present invention are included in the following detailed description.

According to the apparatus and method for producing a carbon nanotube aggregate according to the present invention, by increasing the residence time in the reactor, the interaction between the aggregates can be improved to provide an aggregate composed of long carbon nanotubes.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a structure of a conventional apparatus for manufacturing a carbon nanotube fiber.
2 is a schematic view of a CNT aggregate production apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention is capable of various modifications and various embodiments, and specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the description. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The terms "comprises", "having", or "having" in this specification are intended to be inclusive in a manner that the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof, Does not exclude the possibility that other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, components, or combinations thereof may be present or added.

It is also to be understood that when an element is referred to herein as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it is understood that the element may be directly connected or connected to the other element, .

The term "carbon nanotube fibers" in the present specification can refer to all carbon nanotubes formed by growing in a fiber form or by fusing a plurality of carbon nanotubes in a fiber form.

As used herein, the term "aggregate" may be understood to mean a plurality of aggregates comprising one or more entities that are not singular representations of a substance, both of which may be described interchangeably with an aggregate (both can be represented as sock or aggregates) .

Also, the singular expressions include plural expressions unless otherwise specified.

In addition, the term "forming" may be described in the present specification in combination with "processing ", and may be understood to form a desired shape by applying heat or pressure.

Hereinafter, an apparatus for manufacturing a carbon nanotube aggregate, a carbon nanotube aggregate, and a method for manufacturing the same will be described in detail.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 schematically shows a reactor internal structure according to the prior art; FIG. According to the apparatus of FIG. 1, when the reaction raw material is discharged into the reactor, the carbon compound and the catalyst contained in the reaction raw material are injected toward the inner wall of the reactor at a high temperature to react with each other. Which makes it difficult to produce uniform carbon nanotube fibers.

The carbon nanotubes may be manufactured in the form of carbon nanotube fibers, carbon nanotube mat, or the like depending on the application and purpose. Techniques for producing the carbon nanotube fibers include, for example, solution spinning, array spinning, aerogel spinning, film twisting / rolling, and the like. Among them, direct spinning is performed by adding a catalyst to a carbon source and injecting the carbon nanotube into a vertical furnace in a vertical furnace together with the transport gas to synthesize carbon nanotubes in a heating furnace, It is a process to produce continuously. The present invention follows a process of directly radiating carbon nanotube fibers or ribbons from carbon nanotube aerogels formed immediately after the injection of a spinning liquid in a reactor by using chemical deposition (CD).

On the other hand, in the case of a carbon nanotube having a long length, cross-link is physically formed due to the interaction of the carbon nanotubes with each other by a π-π interaction. Accordingly, in order to improve the strength of aggregates such as fibers made of carbon nanotubes, mats and the like, it is effective that the aggregates consist of carbon nanotubes having a long length.

Since the conventional apparatus for producing carbon nanotube fibers is mostly a linear reactor, the residence time is short, and a manufacturing apparatus having a long reactor length is required in order to improve the residence time. .

FIG. 1 schematically shows a conventional apparatus for producing carbon nanotubes. Referring to FIG. 1, it can be seen that a source including a carbon source, a catalyst and a gas is introduced from the upper portion of the reactor, and the reaction proceeds while passing through the linear reactor.

Hereinafter, an apparatus for manufacturing a carbon nanotube aggregate, a carbon nanotube aggregate, and a manufacturing method thereof according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

2 is a schematic view of an apparatus for manufacturing a carbon nanotube aggregate according to the present invention for solving the problems of the prior art. As shown in FIG. 2, the production apparatus according to the present invention has a spiral shape in the reaction space in which the synthesis reaction of the carbon nanotube aggregate is performed.

Specifically, according to the present invention,

A reactor body having a reaction zone;

A raw material supply unit provided at an upper end of the reaction zone;

Heating means for heating the reaction zone; And

/ RTI >

The apparatus according to the present invention has a spiral shape of the reaction space in which the synthesis of the carbon nanotube aggregate is progressed so that the residence time in the reactor and the passage distance in the reactor for the carbon source, . Therefore, the carbon nanotube aggregate produced by the manufacturing apparatus having the spiral reaction space can have a longer length due to an increased residence time in the reactor and a passing distance in the reactor. Thus, the same properties It can also increase.

According to one embodiment, the manufacturing apparatus of the present invention may include a reactor in which the reactor itself is formed in a spiral shape. In addition, instead of having a helical reactor, a spiral-shaped structure may be provided in a linear reactor, so that the reaction space may be spirally formed.

According to one embodiment, the cross section of the reactor may be circular, elliptical or polygonal, or a combination thereof, but is not particularly limited as long as it does not interfere with flow.

That is, the supply unit or the discharge port may be provided in a direction that becomes the vertical axis of the reaction space. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, which schematically illustrates an embodiment of the present invention, the supply unit or the discharge port may be provided in a curved shape while being connected to the spiral reaction space.

That is, the supply part or the discharge port may be inclined at an angle according to the traveling direction of the helical reaction space. Although this embodiment is not shown in this specification, for example, the connection part between the supply part and the spiral reaction space can be gently connected without a sharp bending part.

According to one embodiment, the supply portion may be provided in one or more, for example, each of the supply portions may be provided independently of each other along a vertical axis with respect to the helical reaction space, or an angle As shown in FIG.

According to one embodiment, the raw material supply portion may include one or more raw material injection ports. For example, the raw material supply portion may include a carbon source injection portion, a catalyst injection portion, and a gas injection portion, And injected at once.

The reactor may be, for example, a chemical vapor deposition reactor, for example, a fluidized bed reactor, and may be tubular, boxed, vertical, horizontal or vertical, but is not limited thereto. The material of the reactor may be, for example, quartz, graphite, or the like, but is not limited thereto.

The heating furnace provided in the manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is used as a general reactor heating means, and may include, for example, an electric type, a plasma heating type, and the like.

The electric system may include, for example, a hydrothermal furnace, a high-temperature vacuum furnace, a redox furnace furnace, a vertical furnace furnace, a horizontal furnace furnace, a large-capacity furnace furnace, and the like.

The electric furnace may include a heating element, a refractory material, a temperature sensor, a control unit, and the like. The heating element may include a metal heating element and a non-metallic heating element. The metal heating element may include a metal heating element including molybdenum, tungsten, platinum, tantalum, and the like and a metal heating element including iron, chromium, An alloy heating element and the like. The non-metallic heating element may include, for example, silicon carbide, molybdenum disilicide, lanthanum chromite, graphene, zirconia, and the like. The refractory agent may include, for example, a ceramic fiber board, a ceramic blanket, or the like, and may serve to minimize heat loss generated in the internal heating element by insulating the electric furnace from the outside. The temperature sensor is a device for detecting the temperature inside the electric furnace, and may be a contact type or a non-contact type. For example, the contact type temperature sensor may include a thermocouple type temperature sensor, and the noncontact type temperature sensor may include a radiation type temperature sensor or the like. The controller may control the temperature and the power, and may include a detection unit and an operation unit that can adjust the power based on the temperature change data obtained through the temperature sensor.

According to one embodiment, the heating means may be provided in the form of wholly or partially enclosing the outside of the reactor body, and the reactor may have heat resistance and pressure resistance. The size of the reactor is not particularly limited and may be appropriately set according to the amount of the introduced source. Specifically, the reactor having the heat resistance and the pressure resistance may be formed of a material including quartz, graphite, stainless steel, aluminum steel, silicon carbide, ceramics, glass, or the like, During the aggregation synthesis process, all or a part of the reactor may be heated to 1,000 to 3,000 DEG C to sustain the growth of CNTs. The temperature in the reactor can affect the diffusion rate of carbon. The growth rate of the CNT aggregate can be controlled by adjusting the temperature in the reactor. In general, the higher the temperature, the faster the CNT aggregate growth rate and the crystallinity and the strength can be increased.

According to an embodiment, the apparatus for manufacturing a carbon nanotube aggregate may further include a gas and CNT aggregate outlet. The outlet may be provided at a lower portion or an upper portion of the manufacturing apparatus while being connected to the reactor. The synthesized CNT aggregate can be continuously grown and moved together with the gas and discharged to the discharge port while moving from the upper part of the reactor to the lower part or from the lower part to the upper part.

According to one embodiment, by combining the manufacturing apparatus with an apparatus other than the above-described apparatus, the present invention can be applied to simplify and apply the synthesis process of carbon nanotube aggregates. For example, in addition to the CNT aggregate production apparatus constituting unit, a feeder, a post-treatment apparatus, a cleaning apparatus, and the like may be combined to perform additional processing. For example, the CNT aggregate production apparatus may further include a winding means and the like in addition to the constituent elements to easily obtain the CNT aggregate. The winding means may comprise conventional means such as winding rolls, for example.

The method comprises:

Injecting the raw material into the reaction zone together with the carrier gas through a plurality of inner tubes of the supply tube;

The raw material injected into the reaction zone reacts while moving down the reaction zone to continuously form an aggregate of carbon nanotubes;

And collecting the formed carbon nanotube aggregate through an outlet.

The aggregate of carbon nanotubes may be initially formed into a hollow tube shape, but may be formed into a fiber shape by being contracted while a tensile force is applied thereto by a winding means provided downstream of the discharge port.

According to one embodiment, the linear velocity of the carrier gas injected into the supply pipe may be 10 to 5000 cm / min.

The present invention also provides a carbon nanotube aggregate produced by the above method. For example, the carbon nanotube aggregate may be a carbon nanotube fiber or a mat.

The raw material may be one containing at least one of carbon source, catalyst and gas.

According to one embodiment, the carbon source may be gaseous or liquid and may be, for example, ethane, ethylene, ethanol, methane, methanol, propane, propene, propanol, acetone, xylene, carbon monoxide, chloroform, acetylene, , Diethyl ether, polyethylene glycol, ethyl formate, mesitylene (1,3,5-trimethylbenzene), tetrahydrofuran, dimethylformamide, carbon tetrachloride, naphthalene, anthracene, dichloromethane, ketone, ether, Heptane, octane, pentane, pentene, hexene, benzene, carbon tetrachloride, toluene, or combinations thereof. In addition, when the carbon compound contained in the raw material supply source is benzene, the carbon source included in the raw material gas may include benzene, propylene, ethylene, methane, and the like By selecting the same or smaller molecular weight, a person skilled in the art can adjust it according to the process conditions.

The catalyst may be in liquid or gaseous form and may act as a synthesis initiator in the synthesis of CNT aggregates. The catalyst may include, for example, iron, nickel, cobalt, copper, yttrium, platinum, ruthenium, molybdenum, vanadium, titanium, zirconium, palladium, silicon, A sulfide, a sulfide, a nitrate, a mixture, an organic complex, or a combination thereof, and may be included as a catalyst precursor. For example, the catalyst may be a compound such as metallocene collectively referred to as bis (cyclopentadienyl) metal, which is a new organometallic compound in which cyclopentadiene and a transition metal are bonded in a sandwich structure, and the cyclopentadiene is a compound It is possible to perform electrophilic reaction, acylation and alkylation reaction.

Examples of the metallocene include ferrocene, cobaltocene, osmosene, and ruthenocene. Among them, ferrocene, which is an iron compound, is relatively thermally stable as compared with most metallocenes and is not decomposed to 470 ° C .

Specific examples ferrocene of the catalyst, of molybdenum hexa-carbonyl, cyclopentadienyl cobalt -dicarbonyl _{((C 5 H 5) Co} (CO) 2), nickel-dimethyl glyoxime, ferric chloride (FeCl _3), ferrous acetate hydroxide , Iron acetylacetonate or iron pentacarbonyl. When the amount of the catalyst is larger than that of the carbon source, the catalyst may act as an impurity, which may be difficult to obtain a high-purity CNT aggregate, and may cause thermal, electrical and physical properties of the CNT aggregate to be deteriorated. Can be selected and adjusted. In addition, the catalyst may be supplied in a dissolved state in an organic solvent containing at least one compound such as water, ethanol, methanol, benzene, xylene, toluene and the like.

The catalyst may be, for example, a sulfur-containing compound as an auxiliary catalyst, and specific examples thereof include sulfur-containing aliphatic compounds such as methylthiol, methylethylsulfide, dimethylthioketone and the like; Sulfur-containing aromatic compounds such as phenylthiol, diphenylsulfide and the like; Sulfur-containing heterocyclic compounds such as pyridine, quinoline, benzothiophene, thiophene and the like, preferably thiophene. Thiophene reduces the melting point of the catalyst and removes the amorphous carbon, allowing synthesis of high purity carbon nanotubes at low temperatures. The content of the catalytic activator may also affect the structure of the carbon nanotubes. For example, when 1 to 5% by weight of thiophene is mixed in ethanol, an aggregate composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes can be obtained , And when thiophene is mixed to ethanol in an amount of 0.5% by weight or less, an aggregate composed of single-walled carbon nanotubes can be obtained.

In addition, physical properties such as the tensile elastic modulus of the carbon nanotube aggregate may be influenced by conditions such as heat treatment temperature during the process. Therefore, a catalyst such as a boron compound or the like may be used to reduce the temperature and time required for the production process of the aggregate .

According to one embodiment, the synthesis rate, length, diameter, surface state, etc. of the CNT aggregate can be controlled by adjusting the concentration of the catalyst or the catalyst precursor. For example, if the concentration of the catalyst to be injected is increased, the number of CNTs to be synthesized increases because the number of catalyst microparticles increases in the reactor, and thus the diameter of the carbon nanotubes constituting the CNT aggregate can be reduced. On the other hand, if the concentration of the catalyst is decreased, the CNT diameter constituting the aggregate may increase because the number of CNT aggregates to be produced is decreased.

According to one embodiment, the gas may be an inert gas, a reducing gas, or a combination thereof. Examples of the inert gas include argon and nitrogen, and examples of the reducing gas include hydrogen and ammonia. The gas may comprise argon, nitrogen, hydrogen, helium, neon, krypton, chlorine or combinations thereof, and may include, for example, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide or combinations thereof. The gas reacts with the amorphous carbon or impurities that can be produced in the CNT synthesis process and is discharged together. Thus, the gas can improve the purity of synthesized CNTs and can serve as a carrier for moving the catalyst and CNTs. It can also play a role.

According to one embodiment, the method of injecting the spinning raw material is not particularly limited, and bubbling, ultrasonic jet injection, vaporizing injection, spraying spraying, pulsed introduction using a pump, etc. can be applied, Different methods can be applied to each part. For example, the gas linear velocity in the supply part may be 10 to 5000 cm / min and may be injected at a linear velocity of 20 to 3500 cm / min, for example, but the type of transport gas, The kind of catalyst and the like.

2, since the residence time in the reaction space can be increased while moving in the helical reaction space, a carbon nanotube aggregate composed of long carbon nanotubes is formed The strength of the resulting product such as carbon nanotube fibers or mats can be further improved due to the interaction between aggregates formed more densely.

According to one embodiment, the carbon nanotube agglomerates according to the present invention may be used in combination with an antimicrobial agent, a releasing agent, a heat stabilizer, an antioxidant, a light stabilizer, a compatibilizer, a dye, an inorganic additive, a surfactant, a nucleating agent, a coupling agent, , Binders, colorants, lubricants, antistatic agents, pigments, flame retardants, and mixtures of one or more of the foregoing. Such an additive may be included within a range that does not affect the physical properties of the carbon nanotube aggregate according to the present invention.

The agglomerate according to the present invention may be blended with a polymer resin and molded or processed by extrusion, injection or extrusion and injection molding to form a product. The production method of the product may be suitably used in a conventional method used in the art And is not limited to the above description.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. It does not.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. something to do. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents.

Claims

A reactor body having a reaction zone;
A raw material supply unit provided at an upper end of the reaction zone;
Heating means for heating the reaction zone; And
A carbon nanotube aggregate discharging unit installed at a lower end of the reaction zone;
/ RTI >
Wherein the reaction zone is helical and the raw material is carbonized and graphitized while flowing downward spirally in the reactor body to form a continuous aggregate of carbon nanotubes.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the reactor body is a spiral reactor.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the reactor body is a vertical reactor and a structure capable of forming a helical reaction region is provided therein.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the helical reaction region has a circular cross section, an elliptical cross section, a polygonal cross section, or a combination thereof.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the helical reaction zone has a uniform or varying cross-sectional area along the flow direction.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the reactor body is vertical and the angle at which the helical reaction zone rotates relative to the vertical axis of the reactor body is constant or varies.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the supply part and the discharge part are independently provided at an angle of 0 degree with respect to the vertical axis of the reactor body or at an angle of 0 degree with respect to the flow path central axis of the helical reaction area.

The method according to claim 1,
And a winding means is further provided downstream of the discharge portion.

A method for producing a carbon nanotube aggregate using the apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. The method of claim 9,
The method
Injecting the feedstock into the reaction zone with the carrier gas through the feedstock;
The raw material injected into the reaction zone reacts while moving down the reaction zone in a spiral manner to continuously form an aggregate of carbon nanotubes; And
And collecting the formed carbon nanotube aggregate through an outlet.

10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the aggregate of carbon nanotubes is initially formed of hollow tube-shaped carbon nanotube aerogels, but is contracted as a fiber form by applying a tensile force by winding means provided downstream of the outlet.

10. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the linear velocity of the carrier gas injected into the supply pipe is 10 to 5000 cm / min.

A carbon nanotube aggregate produced by the method of claim 9.

14. The method of claim 13,
Wherein the carbon nanotube aggregate is a carbon nanotube fiber or a mat.