Steel products are and will remain the basis of economic progress worldwide for many years to come. For production of steel, the blast furnace will continue to remain the main source of iron. Apart from the usage in the blast furnaces, coke is also the raw material for melting of pig iron in cupolas, for ferro-alloys production in electric smelting furnaces and in chemical industries. Amongst these, blast furnaces are the bulk consumers of metallurgical coke.

A world-class blast furnace operation demands the highest quality of raw materials, operation and operators. Coke is the most important raw material fed into the blast furnace in terms of its effect on blast furnace operation and hot metal quality.

High quality coke should be able to support a smooth descent of the blast furnace burden with as little degradation as possible while providing the lowest amount of impurities, highest thermal energy, highest metal reduction, and optimum permeability for the flow of gaseous and molten products. Introduction of high quality coke to a blast furnace will result in lower coke rate, higher productivity and lower hot metal cost.