Petroleum coke

From MoxyWiki

Petroleum coke is a mixture of carbon and hydrogen produced in the petroleum refining process and oxidised to a solid mass. There are various grades of petroleum coke, according to such properties as carbon content, crystalline structure, impurity content,sulphur, volatile matter and metals content.

Petroleum coke is used as a feedstock in the production of:

1. the dense carbon anodes required by the aluminium industry. The CSIRO in Australia is working on an alternative carbon source for the carbon anodes used in the aluminium industry^[1].
2. titanium dioxide pigment - with two plants being situated in Western Australia, Millenium Chemicals and Tiwest^[2]. This process requires a high grade of petroleum coke as a reductant source^[3]
3. synthetic rutile
4. syngas (CO and H₂) by gasification i.e. the conversion of carbon based fuel by gasification ^[4]

References:

1. ↑ 'Biocoke' - sustainable materials for carbon anodes
2. ↑ Titanium dioxide pigment (and titanium metal)
3. ↑ Titanium & Zircon Industry Submission in response to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Green Paper
4. ↑ Gasification: An enabling technology for low emissions energy