OKK Koksovny

OKK, Koksovny, a.s.

Type	joint stock company
Industry	Coking
Headquarters	Ostrava, Czech Republic
Key people	Michal Kuča, CEO
Products	Coke
Owner(s)	NWR Plc
Employees	720 (2010)
Website	http://www.koksovny.cz/en

The Svoboda Coking plant Complex, heating plant and the rail track in Ostrava

Coal unloading for Svoboda Coking plant

OKK Koksovny, a.s. (former names OKD, OKK, a.s. and Ostravsko-karvinské koksovny, akciová společnost) is the largest producer of foundry coke in Europe. The Company operates one plant in the City of Ostrava - called 'Svoboda' facility.

History

The production of coke in the Ostrava area dates back to the 1840s. In 1843 a coking plant named "Jan" (later renamed "President Beneš" and then "Czechoslovak Army" was founded. It was later to become a part of OKK. In 1952 the company OKK was founded and all operating coking plants were merged under one head office, having previously existed as separate state enterprises, except for the metallurgical coking plants (in the Ostrava quarter Vítkovice, in the cities of Třinec and Kladno, and the coking plant Nová Huť [New Smelting Works] founded in the same year). OKK included the coking plants in Ostrava: Svoboda, Jan Šverma, Karolina, Trojice, Czechoslovak army, and Lazy.

In 1994 the joint-stock company OKD, OKK was established on 1 January 1994 by the allocation of OKD, a. s. assets. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of OKD, a. s. The annual turnover of the company was around CZK 5.5 billion. The new enterprise was created by merging two mining coking plants located within the city of Ostrava and one more plant located in the Karviná region.

In 2008 after property changes the New World Resources Plc Company ("NWR") became a new owner of the OKD, OKK, a.s. NWR is also the owner of the OKD, a.s., a hard coal mining company.

Currently (2011) the OKK Koksovny, a.s. operates only one coking plant called 'Svoboda' facility.

Company products

The main business of OKK Koksovny, a. s. is the production of coke. The company produces coke from virtually all types of coal suitable for coking. Coal is sourced from OKD mines as well as from abroad.

OKK Koksovny, a. s. is the largest European producer of foundry coke. The firm offers a broad assortment of coke types for foundry and metallurgical manufacturing, for special metallurgy, heating and other purposes. It also sells chemical products from the high-temperature coal carbonisation that takes place during the coking process.

Production

(Data from 2010)

Achieved annual production of 1,005,500 tonnes of coke. Of that

• 0.277 million tonnes was foundry coke
• 0.524 million tonnes was blast furnace coke
• 0.204 million tonnes was fuel and technological coke

The coking process yields a number of by-products that are important input materials in the chemical industry. Coal gas is captured during the coking process, with individual chemicals subsequently separated from the gas.

OKK Koksovny, a.s. offers its customers:

• Coke-oven gas
• Tar
• Benzol
• Ammonium sulphate
• Solid sulphur

In 2010, OKK Koksovny a. s., produced:

• 408 mil. m³ of coke-oven gas
• 31,500 tonnes of anhydrous tar
• 11,000 tonnes of raw benzol
• 7,300 tonnes of ammonium sulphate
• 800 tonnes of sulphur