Coal tar pitch with xylene as activator was utilized to bind coke breeze to form a firm briquette at room temperature and xylene activation on binding behavior of the pitch was investigated. Furthermore, thermal behavior of the pitch and briquettes was studied to facilitate low temperature briquettes production. Results showed that xylene activated the pitch and gave it good cohesiveness to bind coke breeze at room temperature. The alpha, beta and gamma components were stimulated to have a high activity and the chemical structure of the pitch was changed, which resulted in activation of the pitch cohesiveness. After curing in air at 370 degrees C for 30 min and then carbonizing without special protection at 600 degrees C for 30 min, the pitch is transformed into pitch coke whose C-C bridge was capable of firmly binding the coke breeze particles and the strength of the briquettes reached 50.45 MPa, twice that of metallurgical coke. The process was more efficient and more economical than traditional processes. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.