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Mark and Hunter--I don't know how much you know about metallurgical coke and its
uses but thought I would give you a couple of paragraphs about it prior to our
call tomorrow with Jim Mennell. Jim's new enterprise is focused on creating a
version of "met coke" using biomass (possibly trees but maybe another feedstock)
instead of coal. Met coke is a carbon material manufactured by "destructive
distillation" of biuminous coal. This is usually done in coke batteries which
are banks of large, enclosed kilns loaded with coal that are heated to
temperatures of 1000C in the absence of air. This process removes various
volatile compounds from the coal including coal tar, ammonia, etc. The
resulting coke is a non-melting carbon which has an open, porous and often
glassy appearance that comes in sizes from fine powder to basket-ball size
lumps. The coke has a stable burning temperature. It is combined with iron ore
in the first step of creating iron and steel through smelting in basic oxygen
furnaces (BOFs). The average price of met coke has stabilized around $150/ton
over the past year. Hope this is useful... Mary


Mary A. Gade
>GADE ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP, LLC
>444 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 3600
>Chicago, IL 60611
>Phone: 608.669.8040
>email: mary.gade@yahoo.com
>

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