A novel system for the abatement of fugitive emissions during charging in a by-product coke oven

The article presents a study on the measures adopted in an existing coke plant in order to reduce levels of benzo(a)pyrene dispersed in the environment surrounding the facility. The area has been affected by significant levels of pollution from polycyclic aromatic compounds due to the fugitive emissions from the coke oven, which did not comply with the most recent regulation. A monitoring programme was therefore launched in order to support a framework for intervention. Several problems with the battery made it necessary to implement a novel system to collect and abate fugitive emissions during the operations. The monitoring of the fugitive emissions from the coke oven, before, during and after the implementation of the system, has shown a drop of the visible emission time at charging below 30 s, matched by the return of pollution from benzo(a)pyrene in the area below the legal limits (1 ng/Nm(3)). When compared to the installation costs, these results suggest that the proposed solution can be replicated in other existing by-product coke plants.