Follow Up to Proposed Carbonite Plant on Shale Property in downtown Kingsport

FROM THE DOUGLASS WEBSITE EDITOR:

Local residents are buzzing over the fact that the General Shale property could soon become a coal-burning, coke-producing carbonite plant, bordered on one side by Industry Drive, bordered on another side by downtown Kingsport, and bordered on the other side.. by the Riverview community.

The city of Kingsport has not voiced an opinion about the proposed carbonite plant as yet.

Your Douglass Website is trying to answer the concerns that have been voiced to the editor by Riverview residents. It is anticipated that soon, we will hear from experts close to the coal-coke-carbonite industry, who can explain to the community, exactly what the proposed plant next door will involve.

ONE OF THE OLD GENERAL SHALE BRICK KILNS IN KINGSPORT

FROM THE ARTICLE IN THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS, MAY 28, 2011

"A second phase of the project called for a facility capable of converting up to 100,000 tons of coal per year into both Carbonite and formed coke and 100,000 barrels of coal liquids “that can be further refined into transportation fuels,” according to the (proposal)."








FROM SUPERTALK, WFHG-FM, BRISTOL, MAY 30, 2011:

"There may be 4 hundred new jobs coming to Kingsport. State Representive Tony Shipley says that an investor has made a verbal commitment to help manfacture Carbonite at the old General Shale Brick Plant off Main Street. Energy Solutions an Oak Ridge based company is discussing the $50 million dollar investment with coal scientist Dr. Richard Wolfe. The coke brickquettes produced would be used in the making of steel. No state money is being sought but heavy help is being sought from local Government."


FROM THE DOUGLASS WEBSITE EDITOR:

Everything seems to point to the fact that coke will be either the product or by-product of the carbonite process. So what exactly is coke that is produced from coal?

READ BELOW:

FROM THE WEBSITE ustimes.com/WorldofCoke:

"Coke is a fuel with few impurities and a high carbon content and it is used when purity and high carbon content is desired. Coke is used worldwide in blast furnaces. Coke is used most often in making metals.

Coke, is a hard, gray fuel. According to the New Columbia Encyclopedia, coke bears the same relation to coal as does charcoal to wood.

Coke is made in brick furnaces with bituminous coal as the source."

"Coke making produces by-products which are: ammonia, coal tar, and gaseous compounds, which are saved, but can also be environmental pollutants.

Coke can be made also in a destructive distillation process. According to the New Columbia Encyclopedia, only a small amount of coke is made in the coke distillation process.

Without the high temperatures coke can produce, steel making would be more difficult. It might be that without coke, the industrial revolution itself would not have taken place. How would the industrial revolution have "worked" without steel?"

"Production of coke outside the USA remains relatively small: in 1998 North America produced 80% of world petroleum coke. A number of new Latin American coking units have begun producing petroleum coke from heavy local crude oils, providing new competition."





CONCERNS ABOUT COKE PRODUCERS AROUND THE COUNTRY:

THE TONAWANDA COKE CORPORATION, NEAR BUFFALO, NEW YORK

(Click on the links below to go to the articles)

Click on this link to see the article from the Buffalo, NY newspaper.

Click here to see a news story from WGRZ-TV, Buffalo.

SUNCOKE ENERGY COKE PLANT AT MIDDLETOWN, OHIO NEAR CINCINNATI
Click here to see an article from the Middletown, OH Journal newspaper.

Click here to see an article from the Main Street Monroe, (Ohio) website.


Click here to see the news report about the Middletown coke plant, from WLWT-TV, Cincinnati.




FDS COKE PLANT AT OREGON, OHIO

THIS ARTICLE FROM THE TOLEDO (OHIO) BLADE NEWSPAPER (EDITOR'S NOTE--THIS PLANT IS ALREADY BUILT):

Proposed coke plant raises concerns for neighboring communities

By Duane Ramsey
Toledo Free Press Staff Writer

November 2007--Sandy Bihn doesn't know her possible new neighbors, but she's leery about what their presence in her community could mean.

Bihn, a member of Oregon (Ohio) City Council, is concerned about the amount of air and water pollution a proposed industrial facility to be located along the border of Oregon and Toledo would release into the environment. The plant, which would produce coke, a byproduct of coal, for use in North American steel and foundry facilities, will be built on an area the City of Toledo pledged to keep as wetlands when it expanded its water treatment plant on York Street south of the site, said Bihn, executive director of the Western Lake Erie Waterkeeper Association.

“The site is right across the river from Point Place so those residents should be concerned about the potential pollution from it,” Bihn said. “Most communities would have a lot of interest, but Toledo seems to be apathetic toward environmental issues.”

FROM THE DOUGLASS WEBSITE EDITOR: WE DON'T WANT TO CAUSE ALARM BY POINTING OUT CONCERNS ABOUT THE PROPOSED CARBONITE PLANT ON THE GENERAL SHALE PROPERTY NEXT DOOR. BUT SINCE THERE HAVE BEEN SO MANY PEOPLE VOICING WORRIES, WE DO FEEL AN OBLIGATION TO ADDRESS THEIR CONCERNS WITH THE MOST ACCURATE INFORMATION POSSIBLE. THAT IS OUR JOURNALISTIC RESPONSIBILITY. PLEASE WATCH FOR FUTURE ARTICLES AND EXPLANATIONS ON THE PROPOSED CARBONITE PLANT.