Interesting subject. I do know some of the guys at our blast furnace must be tested for benzene exposure .. My dad worked in that area and was always warning me about chemicals that would go right thru your skin and into your blood. They also had a coke plant there and now across the street which is run by Sunoco aka suncoke. I’ll stick with race gas for what I need, much easier, a 15-20 minute drive and I’ve got it , otherwise I’ll use torco or VP octane boost for a trip as it doesn’t bother me to use.. Bob R your posts are always interesting! This was a very interesting post guys.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENT. If you are familiar with a blast furnace, you must be near the old USS (United States Steel Corporation) Southworks plant. I came from Pittsburgh Pa and use to work for USS Irvin Works, a finishing mill, where we used the coke oven gas from the USS Clairton, Pa coke plant, to fuel the reheat furnaces, annealing furnaces, etc. all down the Mon River valley. Coke oven gas has less than half the heating value of natural gas, requiring twice as much to be burned, and very "dirty", but it was basically free. There was a 48" distribution pipe line built running from Clairton Pa.all the way to Homestead Pa, for use by all the USS mills along the way. Coke oven gas contains many hydrocarbons and other stuff, including toluene, benzene, etc. See the attached info about the derritives of the manufacturing of coke.
Coke is produced by igniting bituminous coal under reduced oxygen conditions in oven batteries specially designed for this process. The coking process generates the following main volatiles as byproducts: coke oven gas, tar, ammonium sulfate, benzol, toluol and naphtha.
A coke battery is made up of multiple ovens. Coal is crushed and blended prior to being charged in a coke oven. A larry car charges the individual oven with the blended coal. In the coke oven, the coal is heated to 1,800°F for up to 18 hours. During that time, the volatiles of the coal are driven into the offgas and a pure carbon form called “coke” remains. The coke, when exposed to oxygen, will immediately ignite and begin to burn. When the coke is pushed from the oven into a railcar, it is quickly quenched to cool the coke and stop the burning process. The cooled coke is then dumped onto a coal wharf where it is taken to a facility to be screened and sized prior to being charged into the blast furnace.
Since you are familiar blast furnaces and their "care and feeding" of the operation....they are very dangerous and hazardous but with proper procedures and safety equipment, they are the elementary way to make iron which feeds the basic steel making operation of the country. Blast furnaces are very necesssry but can be improved to produce more iton with less pollution including greenhouse gases. Just a little tidbit of information. Thanks again for your comment......
BOB RENTON
