US Steel Starts New Environmentally Friendly Coke Ovens

The C Battery construction was begun in 2008 and uses technology from UIhde Corp of America, a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp. In the process of turning coal into coke, the coal must be baked in an oxygen-free environment at high temperatures and it is the emissions from that process that foul the air. The new technology contains emissions using negative pressure that is tightly controlled from when the coal is put in and coke is removed. The battery design decreases the number of ovens required, reducing the opportunity for emissions to be released.

The project also includes two new low-emission quench towers, used to cool the hot coke after it is removed from the oven, which will help reduce pollution from its other batteries.

An added benefit of the process is coke oven gas that is captured and piped to two other U.S. Steel facilities in Mon Valley.
 
“We recycle enough gas to provide 40 million mmBTUs,” said Chairman and CEO John Surma. “That’s enough energy to power 400,000 American households annually.”

Improvements at the plant are expected to help U.S. Steel reach federal air quality standards two years sooner than expected.

The C Battery will add 960,000 tons of coke per year to Clairton’s annual production of 4.5 million tons. Upon completion of a coke substitute plant at Gary Works in Indiana, U.S. Steel will be able to supply all of its own coke requirements.