Petroleum coke, abbreviated coke or petcoke, is a final carbon-rich solid material that derives from oil refining, and is one type of the group of fuels referred to as cokes.

Petcoke is the coke that, in particular, derives from a final cracking process—a thermo-based chemical engineering process that splits long chain hydrocarbons of petroleum into shorter chains—that takes place in units termed coker units. (Other types of coke are derived from coal.)

Stated succinctly, coke is the “carbonization product of high-boiling hydrocarbon fractions obtained in petroleum processing (heavy residues).”

Petcoke is also produced in the production of synthetic crude oil (syncrude) from bitumen extracted from Canada’s oil sands and from Venezuela’s Orinoco oil sands.

Petroleum coke is a byproduct of the oil refining process. As refineries worldwide seek to operate more efficiently and extract more gasoline and other high value fuels from each barrel of crude oil, a solid carbon material known as petcoke is produced.

The chemical and physical characteristics of petcoke are a function of the crude oil and refining technology used by the refinery. Petcoke can be hard or relatively soft. Physically, petcoke can resemble large sponges with numerous pores, or it can resemble small spheres, ranging in size from a grain of sand to a large marble.

Chemically, petcoke can include a variety of elements and metals in a wide range of concentrations. Depending on these physical and chemical characteristics, petcoke is typically used in either an energy application, as a source of British Thermal Units (BTUs) or in an industrial application, as a source of carbon.

Fuel grade petcoke represents roughly 80 percent of worldwide petcoke production, Fuel grade petcoke is typically very high in heating value (BTUs per pound), produces virtually no ash when burned, and is most commonly used in electric power plants and cement kilns.

What is Pet Coke Used for?

Petcoke is a byproduct created when bitumen found in tar sands, like those in Alberta, Canada, is refined into crude oil. Bitumen contains a higher number of carbon atoms than regular oil and it’s these atoms, extracted from large hydrocarbon molecules using heat, that go on to form petcoke.

High grade petcoke which is low in sulphur and heavy metals can be used to make electrodes for the steel and aluminum industry. But the majority of petcoke manufactured globally, approximately 75-80%, is of a much lower grade, containing higher levels of sulphur and heavy metals and is used solely as fuel. The majority of petcoke produced in the U.S. is exported to China – the world’s largest consumer of coal – to feed its many coal-fired power stations.

How is Petroleum Manufactured ?