More Information on Coke Oven Facilities in the United States
The 17 coke manufacturing facilities in the United States may be categorized based on whether or not they are integrated with a large steelmaking operation. They may also be categorized based on whether they incorporate a recovery process for extracting chemicals for reuse or resale. This second distinction helps to explain the nature and extent of the air emissions from the manufacturing activity.
The coke oven sector consists of approximately 17 facilities throughout the United States. Three of them are located in Southwestern Pennsylvania, which has had longstanding problems attaining and maintaining the national ambient air quality standards for fine particulates, ozone, and sulfur dioxide.
For more information, click here: Fact Sheet on Industrial Classification Codes and Coke Manufacturing Facilities
Integrated vs. Merchant Facilities
Integrated coke facilities are those that are directly incorporated into iron and steel manufacturing operations. For example, the United States Steel Clairton Coke Works and ArcelorMittal facilities are all integrated facilities.
In contrast, merchant facilities are those that manufacture coke for sale to iron and steel manufacturers, on the open market. Generally, they tend to be smaller than integrated coke facilities, although size is not a distinguishing characteristic. The former DTE Shenango facility in Pittsburgh and the Tonawanda Coke facility in Tonawanda, New York are examples of merchant facilities.
By-Product Recovery vs. Non-Recovery Facilities
Coke manufacturing facilities that collect and refine the coke oven gas created through the thermal distillation process are classified as “by-product” coke facilities. These types of facilities are currently the prevailing types of coke manufacturing. The by-products that are recovered, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), tars, and oils, are processed for sale for commercial purposes. These commercial by-products include benzene, toluene, naphthalene, sulfur, and ammonium sulfate.
There are multiple steps involved in the by-product recovery process. These steps include tar and liquor separation, primary gas cooling, compression in exhausters, electrostatic tar droplet removal, secondary gas cooling, ammonia removal, benzole removal, naphthalene removal, and sulfur removal.
In contrast to this type of operation, a minority of coke manufacturing facilities are non-recovery facilities. Instead of collecting and processing coke oven gas to extract commercial products, these facilities burn the volatile organic compounds. A company may decide to construct such a facility to avoid the burdens of chemical management, storage, transportation, and finding a buyer. While these facilities do not process coke oven gas, they are technically recovery operations in the sense they engage in “heat recovery.” Operators recover the heat from the coke manufacturing process.
For more information, click here: Fact Sheet on Categorization of Coke Manufacturing Operations
United States Steel Corporation, Clairton Coke Works (400 State St, Clairton, Pennsylvania 15025 (integrated, by-product recovery facility)
“Mon Valley Works is an integrated steelmaking operation that includes four separate facilities: Clairton Plant, Edgar Thomson Plant, Irvin Plant and Fairless Plant.
Clairton Plant is located approximately 20 miles south of Pittsburgh in Clairton, Pa., and sits along the west bank of the Monongahela River. The largest coke manufacturing facility in the United States, Clairton Plant operates nine coke oven batteries and produces approximately 4.7 million tons of coke annually, serving customers in the commercial coke market as well as U. S. Steel’s steelmaking facilities.”
Source: U. S. Steel Website
The following 20-minute video produced by U.S. Steel demonstrates the nature of the operations:
(“USS Clairton Works – Where Good Things Come from Coal”).
ACHD Presentation by Jim Thompson (Program Manager, Air Quality Program)
Clairton Coke Works is the largest Coke Plant in the Western Hemisphere.
12 Coke Batteries (816 ovens)
Daily Output
13,000 Tons of Blast Furnace Coke
225 Million Cubic Feet of Coke-Oven Gas
145,000 Gallons Coal Tar
55,000 Gallons Light Oil
33 Tons Elemental Sulfur
50 Tons Anhydrous Ammonia
– “Testing at US Steel shows Particulate Emissions from Quenching are significantly greater than previously estimated.”
– 2006 Emission Inventory (using AP-42) = 882 Tons per year
– Emissions based on tests = 1992 Tons per year
Source: ACHD Presentation by Jim Thompson, Program Manager, Air Quality Program
ArcelorMittal, Monessen, Pennsylvania (345 Donner Ave, Monessen, PA 15062)
“Monessen is a conventional coke plant producing very high quality coke and related carbon by-products. This facility is located in Monessen, Penn., along the Monongahela River in the southwest region of the state.
The facility’s proximity to the river and Monessen’s central location to numerous blast furnaces provides enhanced distribution options and freight cost savings in comparison to the facility’s foreign and domestic competition.”
Source: http://usa.arcelormittal.com/our-operations/cokemaking/monessen
Products made: Furnace coke, coke breeze, coal tar, light oil, liquid ammonium sulfate
Principal production facilities: Two coke batteries, by-products recovery process plant, boiler operations plant, biological wastewater treatment facility, barge unloading facility
Source: http://usa.arcelormittal.com/Our-operations/Flat/Monessen
Fact Sheet from ArcelorMittal on Monessen Facility:
Summary of Fact Sheet
The Monessen facility was “idled” in May 2009 and restarted operations in May 2014. Before restarting operation, ArcelorMittal invested $50 million to modernize and upgrade the facility in order to enhance “employee safety and environmental performance while ensuring the long-term sustainability of the operations.” The modernization and upgrades affected the dust collector, the coke screening station, the primary coolers, and the wastewater treatment plant.
DTE Energy Services Shenango (200 Neville Rd #8, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15225) (Closed in January 2016)
Press Release announcing closure:
“Unfortunately, global overcapacity in the steel industry and international trade issues have reduced the demand for our product — metallurgical coke. As a result, DTEES is forced to consolidate production to its larger, more efficient facility. We simply have no options for keeping Shenango open.” http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/blog/energy/2015/12/dte-energy-to-close-shenango-coke-works.html
Air Pollution Monitoring by Allegheny County Clean Air Now: http://shenangochannel.org
The “Shenango Channel” is a website developed by Allegheny County Clean Air Now (“ACCAN”) to allow the public to “see polluted emissions from Shenango, pollution sensor readings, and reported smells from residents using Shenango Channel.”
The channel displayed a live stream of camera that recorded the visible emissions leaving the Shenango property. This livestream was synchronized with four air monitors (ACHD Avalon PM2.5, Avalon Speck PM2.5, Bellevue Speck PM2.5, and Ben Avon Speck PM2.5).
The results from the air monitor readings are displayed as a graph below the video livestream. This allowed users to attempt to correlate visible emission events with particulate emissions readings at the air quality monitors in the surrounding area.