Wet quenching of incandescent coke

Apparatus for quenching incandescent coke, comprising:

• (a) a coke quenching tower which defines a quenching chamber in its lower portion and a stack in its upper portion to exhaust quenching emissions out a top opening and which is adapted to internally receive a quench car loaded with coke, the tower having a water applying means in the quenching chamber to apply water to the incandescent coke in the quench car, a water spraying means to cool and clean the quenching emissions ascending through the stack, and demisting means intermediate the spraying means and the top of the tower,
• (b) means for effecting a gas seal to substantially reduce air infiltration into the quenching chamber and up the quenching tower,
• (c) a flow damper located in the stack to control the flow of gaseous emissions exiting the tower,
• (d) means for adjusting the flow damper,
• (e) means for sensing the internal and the external pressures of the quenching tower, the sensing means being adapted to activate the flow damper adjusting means in response to the sensed internal and external pressures so that substantially zero gauge pressure is maintained within the quenching tower.