Interbulk Trading - Italcementi Group

Petroleum coke, or petcoke, is a solid residue and a by-product of oil refinery. It is a substantially carbonaceous material, with a carbon content that usually exceed 80% and it is characterized by a high calorific value.
Different refining processes can make different types of petcoke and each of them qualitatively different from one another. Consequently, petcoke can be used either as fuel, mainly in the cement industry and in power plants, and as raw material.

The main characteristics to take into consideration to use petcoke as fuel:

Calorific value
Sulfur
Hardness (HGI)

The major petcoke exporters are the United States of America and Venezuela, with a total of about 30 Mt/y which equals 40% of the global petcoke production. The petcoke produced outside the USA and the Carribean area (Europe, China, India, etc.) is used almost exclusively for the domestic market.