Anybody using pet coke(by product of tar sands oil/heavy crude) in their forge? Is it doable?

yup looks a lot like lava rock, burns clean,  hard to start, so I start my fire with soft coal, and after its going I feed the pet coke in.

steve, where did you get the pet coke?


I've been using L brand Forge coke for a few yrs. L brand is made from coal though or atleast that's what their ad says

Bern Indiana, ferrier supply for the local Amish there. burns hot and clean

I think D L Schwartz sells L-brand not pet coke.

looks like pet coke, and thats where I got it.

Anybody else out there tried pet coke?

The steel industry doesn't use pet coke because of the sulfur/heavy metal content and lack of consistancy of content. I'd like to know if pet coke would be a viable forge fuel without some terrible risk. I know it's used in power generation but only up to 40% with the balance made up of coal.  

 

The reason I'm asking is that there is 30,000 tons of pet coke for the Marathon refinery, piled up by the Detroit river and the local officials want it gone, pronto! Could be gotten for a good deal

The steel industry doesn't use pet coke because of the sulfur/heavy metal content and lack of consistancy of content. I'd like to know if pet coke would be a viable forge fuel without some terrible risk. I know it's used in power generation but only up to 40% with the balance made up of coal.  

 

The reason I'm asking is that there is 30,000 tons of pet coke for the Marathon refinery, piled up by the Detroit river and the local officials want it gone, pronto! Could be gotten for a good deal

I saw that news story as well and wondered what the difference between Pet Coke and Metallurgical Coke was

enough of a difference not to bother with it.

A couple of decades ago my wife had a relative who ran a calcining plant near Lake charles, Louisiana.  I got several pickup truck loads of petrolium coke.  It was in large chunks- fist, to head, sized.  It was hard to light so I made a lighter-pine fire first and then added coke to it.  The fire was very hot but tended to spread to the whole fire pot. 

 

The coke burned hot enough to melt five pounds of bronze to cast a bell clapper for a large Mexican bell.  That said, making reliable forge welds was difficult; possibly due to the high sulfer content.   I would use it today if it was available at Walmart at not too much more than Royal Oak lump charcoal prices.

maybe I am lucky with the load I have or it is not pet coke at all, mine is clean as charcoal

Used petroleum coke in the past, came from a lime kiln. The stuff smelled bad of deisel when burning, tried mixing with coal and the smell was still there. Finally found a good source of met coke out of New York , our group pulled together and ordered 22 tons. The coke is a dream to use, forge welds easily, clean , no smoke .

I burn L brand forge coke. They claim it it MET coke. Has no real bad smell. It makes a hot fire and does Ok for welds but, it seems dirty as it makes a lot of clinker. Wish I could find good clean coke. PaulE, do you have a contact for that NY coke?

Has anyone used pet coke from the Pine Bend Refinery?  I was wondering what it was like and if it was possible to get from them in quantities small enough for me to be able to store (roughly 50 gal.) or if it was all being shipped out to China ect.