In this research, a novel, environmentally benign supercritical CO2-ethanol(scCO2-ethanol) system to produce high-yield carbon fiber pre-precursor from Power River Basin (PRB) coal is studied. The binary scCO2-ethanol system shows excellent performance for producing valuable liquid tar in high yield which can be used as carbon fiber pre-precursor. The results indicated that the highest yield of liquid tar reached up to 70% from three times extractions at 350oC with initial pressure 500 psi. Different characterizations methods are employed to discover the physical and chemical properties of liquid tar as carbon pre-precursor. In addition, the light oil fraction can be used as feedstock for producing valuable chemicals.
