Production of agglomerate involves reacting gaseous reactants within reaction zone of reactor to form product particles, agglomerating product particles into agglomerate, and applying force to agglomerate

NOVELTY - An agglomerate is produced by passing a flow of one or more gaseous reactants into a reactor; reacting the gaseous reactants within a reaction zone of the reactor to form product particles; agglomerating the product particles into an agglomerate; and applying a force to the agglomerate to displace it continuously away from the reaction zone. USE - For producing agglomerate, e.g. a carbon fiber (claimed), a fiber or film of single-walled or multi-walled carbon nanotubes. ADVANTAGE - The inventive process produces fibers in high yield. The products produced by the inventive process do not contain a high proportion of soot. DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are also included for: (1) a carbon fiber produced by the above process; (2) a carbon nanotube fiber, having a length of greater than or equal to50 cm; (3) a woven material, comprising the above carbon fiber; (4) an object coated in aligned carbon nanotubes; and (5) a process of producing a fibrous aggregated body, comprising generating fibrils suspended in gas by reaction of a precursor substance in a reaction zone; condensing the fibrils together to form the body; and continuously withdrawing the body from the vicinity of the reaction zone.