Central Europe's leading coking coal producer, Czech-based New World Resources N.V. (NWR), has announced the completion of the construction of a new coke battery at its Czech coke subsidiary, OKK Koksovny (OKK), Europe's largest producer of foundry coke, at a cost of CZK 1.6 billion (about $76 million).
"This is the latest phase of NWR's Coking Optimization Program 2010...designed to improve the efficiency and productivity of the company's coke operations," reads NWR's statement.
On June 1, 2010, the newly constructed coke battery No.10 at OKK's Svoboda plant in Ostrava, northeast Czech Republic, started the ‘drying out' process ahead of trial operations, which are scheduled to commence in November.
The new coke battery is installed in place of the former battery which was decommissioned by the company in 1998 due to significant wear and tear and reduced demand for coke, and which was demolished later on. "It has the same capacity as the decommissioned battery; however, the coke battery charging and exhalation exhaust system is completely new and complies with the strictest environmental requirements," OKK's CEO Michal Kuča said.
The main product of the new coke battery will be foundry coke, which is used in foundries and now also in insulation production technologies. Significant quantities of this product are purchased by companies from Germany, Austria, Russia and Slovakia. Another product will be blast furnace coke, which is mainly used for raw iron production in blast furnaces. The Ostrava Coking Plants deliver blast furnace coke to the Třinec Iron and Steel Works, and also to Austria and Finland.
In 2009, NWR produced 0.8 million mt of coke. External sales volumes of coke in 2009 were 0.7 million mt, consisting of approximately 45 percent of blast furnace coke, 25 percent of foundry coke and 30 percent of other applications.
In 2010, NWR expects to produce one million mt of coke, of which 58 percent will be blast furnace coke, 29 percent will be foundry coke, with 13 percent consisting of other applications.