与聚丙烯腈基碳纤维和中间相沥青基碳纤维相比，通用型碳纤维具有突出的价格优势，但较差的强度性能限制其只能应用在建筑补强等低附加值领域。因此，在控制通用型碳纤维制备成本的同时提高其强度性能从而拓宽其应用领域已然成为研究热点。迄今，原料选择与调整以及沥青前驱体合成方法的改进被认为是解决上述问题的极具潜力的途径。煤加工过程中副产的煤焦油等产品是制备通用型碳纤维的重要原料。结合我国能源结构特点，研发与优化煤系通用型碳纤维的制备方法和技术对我国碳纤维行业的发展具有重要意义。以煤系通用型碳纤维的制备研究为主旨，首先从原料的角度讨论了煤系原料的种类、前处理方法、性质与特点以及在用于通用型碳纤维制备过程中优缺点；此外，详细论述了通用型碳纤维的制备方法，包括热缩聚法、共炭化法、加氢聚合法和卤化-脱卤化法。未来的煤系通用型碳纤维的研究开发工作应该多集中于如何从分子层面实现沥青前驱体的可控合成，从而提高碳纤维的强度性能，而不应该再仅关注简单地改变原料比例和调整反应条件。

General-purpose carbon fiber (GPCF) has the advantages of low cost compared to polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber and mesophase pitch-based carbon fiber; however, the poor strength performance limits its application to low value-added fields, building reinforcement for example.Thus, the balance between controlling preparation cost and improving strength performance has been the focus of GPCF development.The selection of raw materials and the improvement of synthesis of pitch precursors are deemed as the potential approaches to solve the above problems.Coal and its by-products of coal processing are main raw materials for preparing different types of carbon fibers.Taking the energy structure characteristics of China into account, it would be significant for the development of carbon fiber industry of our homeland by studying and developing an effective and feasible method for coal-based GPCF production.In the work, the preparation study of coal-based GPCF was the main topic, the types and pretreatment methods, as well as properties of raw materials, were summarized first, and the preparation methods of pitch precursor were reviewed then including thermal condensation, co-carbonization, hydrogenation polymerization, and halogenation-dehydrohalogenation.In the future, the attention of GPCF development should be on the controllable synthesis of pitch precursors to improve its strength performance instead of changing raw materials and synthetic conditions only.