Coal it is a fossil fuel that is formed from the decomposition of organic materials that have been subjected to geologic heat and pressure over millions of years. Coal includes a different range of solid organic fuels and refers to a range of combustible sedimentary rock materials spanning a continuous quality range. It is the primary fuel used by integrated iron and steel manufacturers.
In steel production, coking coal is a key ingredient. With a high swelling index, its low volatile matter content characterizes coking coal; it converts iron into molten iron. With particular properties, we have two groups for coking coal: semi-soft, hard and PCI.
Also known as petroleum coke, it is a carbonaceous solid delivered during the oil refining process. It can be either hard or relatively soft.
There are various processes to produce petcoke, among them are contact coking, fluid coking, flexicoking and delayed coking, coke can also be delivered from coal. It can thus be either fuel grade or anode grade. Green coke is unprocessed, raw, and directly out of the coker.
Depending on its characteristics, fuel grade petcoke can be used as a source of energy, or as a source of carbon for industrial applications when it is known as calcined petcoke.
Also known as Steam Coal it is mainly used for power and heat generation. For electricity generation, thermal coal is ground to a powder and fired into a boiler to produce heat, this process transforms water into steam.