Carbonaceous material

A process for the manufacture of coke useful for metallurgical purposes, which consists essentially of:

• i. preparing a carbonaceous residue by subjecting a solid carbonaceous fossil fuel material of which the oxygen content is undersirably high for satisfactory coking properties to a step of deoxygenation and removal of such water as may be present, which step comprises heating the carbonaceous material in intimate contact with a liquid solvent and a hydrogen carrier and hydrogen under pressure to effect the deoxygenation, followed by distilling the solvent and such volatiles as are formed off the combined product of said heating, and recovering the combined residue,
• ii. blending up to about 10% by weight of the carbonaceous material produced by step (i) with ordinary coal having coking properties unsatisfactory for metallurgical purposes, and
• iii. subjecting the blend of step (ii) to conventional coking conditions and recovering the resulting coke as a product.