The primary use of coke is as a fuel reductant and support for other raw materials in iron-making blast furnaces. Coke is also used to synthesize calcium carbide and to manufacture graphite and electrodes, and coke-oven gas is used as a fuel. By-products of coke production may be refined into commodity chemicals (such as benzene, toluene, naphthalene, sulfur, and ammonium sulfate) (IARC 1984, Kaegi et al. 2000).
Carcinogenicity
Coke-oven emissions are known to be human carcinogens based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity from studies in humans.
