Past AIST Committee Activities
Current Activities
The Cokemaking Technology Committee (CMTC) met on Tuesday, May 4 at AISTech 2010, with 31 members in attendance. Brad Parker reviewed the 2010 Steel Industry Fatalities Statistics, which opened a dialogue for a safety round table discussion. The CMTC officer elections for 2010–2011 will have Rob Carlin as chair, Toni Brayton as vice chair, Tim Wojtowicz as papers chair, and Tim Maurice as membership chair. The committee discussed the initial Cokemaking Roundup, which was published in the January 2010 issue of Iron & Steel Technology, and the need to expand the coke batteries listed. The deadline for the January 2011 Cokemaking Roundup is Oct. 15. A separate Byproducts Roundup will be considered by the committee for publication next year. An increase of 25% in battery listings will be the goal for next year’s roundup. Benchmarking procedures and goals were discussed along with reporting templates, ensuring confidentiality for coke producers participating. This will be a meeting agenda item for the fall CMTC meeting. The 2010 Josef S. Kapitan Award for Cokemaking was presented to Tim Wojtowicz for his paper entitled, “Activated Carbon Injection Optimization Study for Controlling Mercury Emissions at Haverhill North Coke Co.” The fall CMTC meeting will be Sept. 30–Oct. 1 at Granite City with a tour of Sun Coke’s Battery on Sept. 30. Brad Parker was recognized for his two-year tenure as the CMTC chair.
The Cokemaking Technology Committee (CMTC) met on Feb. 4 before the Eastern States winter meeting registration. Brad Parker, CMTC chair, welcomed 22 members in attendance. There are currently 61 members of the CMTC, with five new members since the previous meeting. A safety round table discussion began with a review of the Safety & Health Technology Committee’s 2009 Steel Industry Fatalities Report and current statistics. Two other graphs depicted a three-year period of steel industry fatalities by type and by reason since 2006. These graphs helped generate a dialogue regarding safety issues experienced at various plants and the corrective action taken to improve performance. The 2009 Coke Battery Roundup appeared in the January issue of Iron & Steel Technology. This roundup will be reviewed/revised each year with the hope of expanding coverage to recognize all the cokemaking facilities in North America. The CMTC recognized Toni Brayton, U. S. Steel–Gary Works, for her efforts in organizing this initial Coke Battery Roundup.
Mrs. Brayton, papers chair, outlined the CMTC sessions scheduled for AISTech 2010. Session chairs were identified, and responsibilities were discussed. Brad Parker announced the 2009 Josef S. Kapitan Award winners as Tim Wojtowicz and Chris Sharp of SunCoke Energy Inc. for their paper entitled, “Activated Carbon Injection Optimization Study for Controlling Mercury Emissions at Haverhill North Coke Co.” Work on the AISTech 2011 Call for Abstracts began with encouragement for all committee members to participate in next year’s conference, to be held in Indianapolis, Ind., May 2–5, 2011. Tim Wojtowicz, CMTC papers chair-elect, will accept paper abstracts at the next CMTC meeting during AISTech 2010. CMTC officer rotation and membership chair selection for the 2010–2011 term were determined: Rob Carlin — chair; Toni Brayton — vice chair; Tim Wojtowicz — papers chair; and nominated and approved for membership chair was Tim Maurice. The fall 2010 meeting will be planned for mid-September with a tour of Granite City coke operations. To conclude this meeting, two presentations were given: “Cap and Trade Overview” by Joel Sundholm, and the 2009 Josef S. Kapitan Award paper by Tim Wojtowicz.
The Cokemaking Technology Committee (CMTC) met in Southgate, Mich., on Sept. 8–10. Ron Burnette, plant manager of EES Coke Battery for DTE Energy Services, welcomed the CMTC Tuesday afternoon on a tour of their coke battery. There were 24 CMTC members participating in this tour. EES Coke Battery employs 106 people, and plant housekeeping was rated excellent. Brad Parker, CMTC chair, welcomed the members in attendance. CMTC membership stands at 58 members, with six new members recognized: Michael Trembowicz, Joe Fluder, Charles Ellis, Cameron Howey, Vincent Guercio and Gary Drylie. The 2009 Josef S. Kapitan selection committee was formed to select the best coke oven paper presented at AISTech 2009; the committee consists of Toni Brayton, R.V. Ramani, Roxie Graystone and Jack Garzella. The CMTC discussed a stronger recognition for the recipient of the Becker Award during AISTech’s President’s Award Breakfast. A proposal letter was sent to AIST. A CMTC safety round table discussion started, with a review of the AIST Safety & Health Technology Committee’s 2009 fatality statistics. Key items discussed were recent retirements creating new work assignments, plant workers now doing previous contractor work, advancements in radio frequency identification tagging (RFID), and an update from Lauren Keating on the Clairton Works fatality.
“Hot Idling Operations — Battery Asset Preservation” was the main topic for the meeting. Five presentations were given by the following CMTC members: Jim Fittipaldo and Ralph DiStanislao of ArcelorMittal Warren; Lauren Keating of United States Steel Corporation; Marty Dusel and Jack Garzella of AK Steel Ashland; Rob Carlin and Frank Jere of DTE-EES Coke Battery; and Dick O’Hearn of DTE Shenango. PowerPoint presentations are available to view on the CMTC members Web page.
The status of the 2009 Cokemaking Roundup was provided by Toni Brayton, CMTC papers chair. The CMTC plans to complete this roundup for the January 2010 issue of Iron & Steel Technology. Rob Carlin and Jim Fittipaldo have agreed to update a Byproducts Facility Roundup for publication. Ms. Brayton described a tentative AISTech 2010 session schedule with three or four technical sessions. For 2010, PowerPoint presentations will be accepted by the committee for AISTech presentations but will not be published or qualify for an award. The CMTC voted on changing the Technology Committee reception from Wednesday night to Sunday night during AISTech 2010.
The next CMTC meeting will be Feb. 4, 2010. Joel Sundholm will make a presentation on “Cap and Trade — What Does It Mean for Cokemaking?” The CMTC meeting will precede the Eastern States Coke Oven Association meeting.
The Cokemaking Technology Committee (CMTC) met on Tuesday, May 5 at AISTech 2009. There were 19 CMTC members in attendance. The committee presented the 2009 Josef S. Kapitan Award for Best Cokemaking Paper to authors Veena Sahajwalla and Sushil Gupta (both in attendance), along with Allah Wasaya, Olavi Kerkkonen, Riku Kanniala and David Osborne for their paper, “Effect of Coke Mineral and Carbon Structure on Carbon Behavior in the Ruukki Furnace.” The CMTC then awarded member Joel Sundholm the 2009 Joseph Becker Award in recognition of his distinguished achievements in the cokemaking community. Election of CMTC officers provided the nominations and approvals for the following: Brad Parker, chair; Rob Carlin, vice chair; Toni Brayton, papers chair; Tim Wojtowicz, membership chair; Ted Todoschuk, Becker Award nominating chair; and Frank Jere, AIST BOD representative (two-year term). The CMTC mission statement was reviewed and approved. The Cokemaking Benchmarking Subcommittee chair, Rob Carlin, conducted a conference call Wednesday, June 10, so the CMTC could update a list of current cokemaking facilities. The AISTech 2010 Call for Papers asks each CMTC member to solicit papers for next year’s conference. A suggestion was made to reach out to European cokemaking counterparts to participate in AISTech 2010. The next CMTC meeting is scheduled for Sept. 8–10, 2009, with a plant tour of DTE Energy Services with host Rob Carlin. Contact Brad Parker before Aug. 1, 2009, if you’d like to make a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation on one of the following topics: safety and health with cokemaking; environmental issues; biological treatment facilities; idling and start-up concerns; recovery strategies — new technologies; and reduced capacity operations.
The Cokemaking Technology Committee (CMTC) met in Coraopolis, Pa., in conjunction with the Eastern States Blast Furnace and Coke Oven Association on Feb. 5–6. CMTC meeting attendance was 23 members, with two new members: Lauren Keating and Paul Todaro from U. S. Steel. The current CMTC roster stands at 93 members. Safety round table discussions included plant statistics, eye safety, project landscape changes during construction, gas safety issues and alarm equipment measuring levels, PPE apparel color change to orange for easier recognition, and continued efforts to motivate employees to adopt the safety programs. The CMTC recognized AK Steel–Middletown for having zero recordable injuries for 2008. Production concerns highlighted mercury discharges at a bio plant, and implementing activated carbon technology to control Hg discharge. Energy savings continue to have a strong, plant-wide focus. The CMTC was reminded to use the group e-mail address, cmtc@aistnetwork.org, whenever an accident occurs at their facility, so that available details can be communicated as soon as possible to the committee in hopes of preventing a similar accident from occurring at another plant.
AISTech 2009 awards were discussed. The Josef S. Kapitan Award will be given to Sushil Gupta, University of New South Wales, for his paper, “Effect of Coke Mineral and Carbon Structure on Coke Behavior in the Ruukki Blast Furnace.” The Becker Award subcommittee will finalize their selection by March 1, 2009. The Becker Award Subommittee chair, Ted Todoschuk, will inform the CMTC of this year’s recipient. Guidelines for the Becker Award will be reviewed by the Subcommittee after AISTech 2009. There is a strong consensus that a cokemaking benchmarking database is desirable, as long as it is easy to use and the information gathered is useful. CMTC members were encouraged to submit comments/suggestions to Rob Carlin, Benchmarking Subcommittee chair. Toni Brayton, Tim Wojtowicz, Danielle Anderson, Brad Parker, Paul Todaro, Rick Lyons and Lauren Keating comprise the Benchmarking Subcommittee. Joel Sundholm will provide benchmarking variables used in the AISE Coke Producing Committee format. Identifying key variable statistics to benchmark will be a top priority. The benchmarking database will be restricted to coke producing members and only those members who submit data. CMTC officer nominations for 2009–2010 were discussed. Brad Parker was nominated as chair, Rob Carlin as vice chair, and Toni Brayton and Tim Wojtowicz as papers chair. These nominations will be confirmed at AISTech 2009 during the next CMTC meeting on Tuesday, May 5.
The Cokemaking Technology Committee (CTC) held a joint meeting with the American Coke and Coal Chemicals Institute (ACCCI) in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 30–31, 2008. Bruce Steiner, ACCCI president and CMTC member, developed the meeting agenda, where round table discussions included safety and health, human resources, environmental, energy, and maintenance and repairs. Presentations that followed on the second day included the topics of: regulatory developments, quality with testing procedures, OSHA’s combustible dust initiative, PROVEN technology, SunCoke project updates, litigations involving the Fair Labor Standards Act, and naphthalene developments with ACCCI activities. The CMTC scheduled 10 papers for two sessions during AISTech 2009. Session chairs were selected and will include Frank Jere, Rob Carlin, Tim Maurice, Toni Brayton, Tom Annarella and Roxie Graystone. The Kapitan Award selection committee for the Best Paper from AISTech 2008 includes Frank Jere, Brad Parker, Rob Carlin, Toni Brayton and Tom Annarella. The Joseph Becker Award will be presented at AISTech 2009 for lifetime achievement in cokemaking. The selection committee includes Paul Readyhough, Greg Emish, R.V. Ramanii, Dick O’Hearn, Jack Garzella and Tom Berg. A CMTC Benchmarking Subcommittee was formed to investigate a better reporting format for cokemaking benchmarking. Toni Brayton and Rob Carlin will co-chair this subcommittee to improve reporting on benchmarks. The next CMTC meeting will be at The Eastern States Coke Oven and Blast Furnace Association Spring Conference in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Feb. 5–6.
The Coke Producing Operating Committee (CPOC) met during AISTech 2008 in Pittsburgh on May 5. Frank Jere, DTE Energy Services, reviewed the AIST/AISI committee integration status. The CPOC believed the integration would take place with relative ease due to close working relationships already in place. This committee name was changed to the Cokemaking Technology Committee (CMTC). The AISTech 2009 Call for Papers received the following coke-related submissions: coke oven refurbishment at ArcelorMittal Dofasco, coke oven controls at SunCoke, coke oven rehabilitation at ArcelorMittal Warren, commissioning of a wastewater treatment plant at EES Coke Battery, and one paper from DTE Energy Services. The abstract deadline was July 31, and paper selections will be completed at the next CMTC meeting in October. The Joseph Becker Award will be presented in 2009. The Josef Kapitan Award was presented jointly from the Iron Producing Operating Committee and CPOC this year. Election of 2008–2009 officers took place. Frank Jere will remain chair, Brad Parker of ArcelorMittal Dofasco was elected vice chair, and Rob Carlin of DTE Energy Services was elected papers chair. The CPOC recognized Hardashan Valia’s effort as past papers chair. Bruce Steiner, ACCCI representative, suggested that AIST and ACCCI schedule a joint committee meeting this fall. This meeting will take place in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 30–31. Mr. Jere and Mr. Parker enlisted Mr. Steiner as a new member of the CMTC. Chuck Zubritski, of Intertech Technology and Trading, submitted a challenge to develop a survey of methods to analyze liquor, still feeds, tail gas, etc., that could produce needed measurement standards. Mr. Valia suggested a round table discussion on raw material costs and coal availability, to take place at AISTech 2009 in St. Louis next May.
