Coke: Its Constitution and Utilisation

Coke made in coke ovens from coal and used in iron blast furnaces is a strategically critical manufactured product for contemporary and future world iron production. The important physical, chemical and microscopic properties of cokes are examined and explained, drawing on both an exhaustive literature review and the extensive R&D, consulting and industrial experience of the authors. The emphasis is on characterising the family of cokes as materials rather than considering the raw materials of carbonisation and the carbonisation processes.

The term “coke” covers a wide range of materials that can be classified in a number of ways based either on properties or utilisation practices. With few exceptions, these materials are manufactured for specific industrial purposes such as metallurgical processes, making gases or filtering fluids. This report primarily concerns industrial cokes with special concern for blast furnace cokes and their utilisation in iron making.  Other industrial cokes and those made in pilot plants or laboratory ovens receive attention where their properties help understand primary utilisation as blast furnace coke.