AP reported that construction began recently on a coke making plant that will provide fuel and steam to an adjacent steel foundry in a USD 570 million venture.

Gateway Energy and Coke Co a unit of Philadelphia based Sunoco Inc will build and run the USD 290 million plant which is expected to supply as much as 650,000 tonnes of coke a year that will be sold to a nearby United States Steel Corp. plant in this St Louis suburb.

Construction of the coke plant is expected to take 18 months.

Coke a fuel used to superheat ovens for steel making is produced when coal is cooked at high temperatures to remove any moisture or gases.

A byproduct of the coke making will be used by a USD 280 million cogeneration site US Steel plans to build and run, converting the gas into electricity that will power the steel mill.