EUROPEAN STEEL TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATION DAYS 2017 - ESTAD 2017

During production of ethylene, propylene and butadiene at SABIC olefin plants, coke is deposited on furnace tubes. Deposited coke layer increases with time which reduces furnace efficiency. Hence, removal of coke through de-coking process-stage is frequently required followed by landfilling of collected waste coke. Moreover, HADEED imports carboneous additives or recarburizers to be added during steel making process. A study was conducted to evaluate potential utilization of wasted coke from SABIC petro-chemical plants as recarburizers. Compositional analysis using carbon/sulfur analyzer and XRF revealed high fixed carbon in olefins coke ranging between 80% to 95% and low sulfur content of less than 0.5%, which meets steel making requirement. Moreover, 50 plant trials were conducted using coke from different olefin plants, where coke was added during Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) tapping and during ladle furnace treatment. Average carbon recovery of these trials was high reaching to more than 90%. Due to these successful trials, coke was re-classified from waste to recyclable by-product and olefins’ coke batches is used continuously in steel making. This supports sustainability and reduces carbon additives cost at HADEED.