Petroleum coke

Stated succinctly, coke is the "carbonization product of high-boiling hydrocarbon fractions obtained in petroleum processing (heavy residues)".

Needle coke is produced exclusively from either fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) decant oil or coal tar pitch.

Additionally, the amount of heptane insolubles present and the fraction of light components in the coker feed contribute.

[5] A common choice of sulfur recovering unit for burning petroleum coke is the SNOX Flue gas desulfurisation technology,[7] which is based on the well-known WSA Process.

The calcined petroleum coke is used to make anodes for the aluminium, steel and titanium smelting industry and as the feed stock for the production of synthetic graphite.

As of 2013 Oxbow Corporation, owned by William I. Koch, was a major dealer in petcoke, selling 11 million tons annually.

[12] India's Environmental Pollution Control Authority tested imported petcoke in use near New Delhi, and found sulfur levels 17 times the legal limit.

Pet coke availability is expected to increase in the future due to falling demand for residual oil.

[14] Petroleum coke is sometimes a source of fine dust, which can penetrate the filtering process of the human airway, lodge in the lungs and cause serious health problems.

Vanadium was found in the dust collected in occupied dwellings near the petroleum coke stored next to the Detroit River.

[17] According to multiple EPA studies and analyses, petroleum coke has a low health hazard potential in humans.

During animal case studies repeated-dose chronic inhalation did show respiratory inflammation due to dust particles, but not specific to petroleum coke.

An estimated 100 tons of petcoke fugitive dust including PM10 and PM2.5 are released into the atmosphere per year in the United States.

[19] Waste management and release of fugitive dust is especially an issue in the cities of Chicago, Detroit and Green Bay.

Use of petcoke also produces emissions of sulfur, and the potential for water pollution through nickel and vanadium runoff from refining and storage.

Petroleum coke
A delayed coking unit.A schematic flow diagram of such a unit, where residual oil enters the process at the lower left (see →), proceeds via pumps to the main fractionator (tall column at right), the residue of which, shown in green, is pumped via a furnace into the coke drums (two columns left and center) where the final carbonization takes place, at high temperature and pressure, in the presence of steam.