Met coke production, part 1 of 2
Met coke is being produced in the process of carbonization of coal blends or coal at temperatures up to one thousand four hundred degrees. Such temperature transforms a regular coal into a macroporous carbon material, which is relatively large lump size and high strength. Metallurgical coke must have a high strength, because it supports heavy loads in the blast furnace without disintegration. Met coke can be also used as a filler coke for the polygranular carbon products. What else can we say about met coke and the process of its production?
Metallurgical coke, also known as “Met” coke, is a carbon material produced in the process of the “destructive distillation” of various blends of bituminous coal. Bituminous coal is a medium grade, soft coal containing a high percentage of volatile components. The destructive distillation process is performed in “coke oven batteries”, which are banks of large enclosed kilns. When the kilns are loaded, they are heated up to about one thousand degrees without the air access. During the heating all the volatile components of the bituminous coal are released. The solid coal is partially melted and subsequently re-solidificated to a non-melting carbon. Volatile components, which include mostly ammonia, coal tar and dozens of other “products of decomposition”, are reclaimed or recycled.