Divisions
Monckton
Coke has been made on the Monckton site at Royston near Barnsley in South Yorkshire for over 130 years.
Monckton is the only independent coke production plant in the UK, and is ranked as one of Europe’s leading producers of high-quality metallurgical coke
To make good coke you need good coal – and Monckton takes its coal supplies from the Hargreaves-owned Maltby Colliery a few miles away near Rotherham in Yorkshire.
Monckton produces some 200,000 tonnes of coke per year; coke destined for use in glass, detergents and steel manufacturing; and coke used for home heating.
To produce coke, we ‘bake’ coal in high-temperature ovens in the absence of air for about 20 hours. During the baking process, by-products such as Benzole, Tar and ammoniacal liquor are removed, leaving a coke with a high carbon content.
(Typical chemical composition: +86% Carbon, -6% Ash, -2% Volatile Matter, -12% Moisture, -2% Sulphur)
Many of the by-products that come from coke making at Monckton are recycled and sold.
Most importantly, the gas from Monckton coke ovens is used in a combined heat and power plant that can generate up to 11 megawatts of electricity. Not only does this supply all the electricity needed on-site, we actually sell our surplus electricity to the national grid – enough to provide power for more than 1,000 homes.
