Coke is highly carbonaceous material which is used as a reductant in Blast Furnace Ironmaking. It is a grey, hard, and porous material which is produced in a process which involves heating coal in the absence of oxygen in a coke oven. This process drives off the volatile matter and enriches the carbon content of the material.

Hot gases are evolved from the coal and this passes through a gas space at the top of the coke oven into a collecting main prior to quenching. The gas is treated to remove dust and extract high value petrochemical feedstocks such as tar, oil, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide. The clean gas in known as coke oven gas (COG) and its availability is paramount to the energy balance across an integrated steelworks.

Project Aims

The aim of the project is understand the cokemaking process at Morfa coke Ovens and focus on the operation of the by-products plant to maximise the yield and improve the quality of high value petrochemical products such as Tar, Ammonia, and Benzol.

The project will also involve understanding the companies contractual obligations in order to minimise financial penalties and maximising the value stream by optimising processing conditions and procedures.

Suitable candidate 

Background in physical science, chemical engineering, process engineering, or materials science with an affinity of instrumentation and industrially focused research.