Contributions of VUKhIN to the Russian Coke Industry

Abstract

In March 2026, the Eastern Scientific-Research Institute of Coal Chemistry (VUKhIN) celebrated its 95th anniversary. On March 4, 1931, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR, the Coal Chemical Institute of the Urals (UUKhIN) was established on the basis of the coal chemical laboratory at Ural Chemical Research Institute (UNIKhIM). The first director was N.N. Rogatkin. In the 1930s, with a view to developing a resource base for the Soviet coke industry, the Institute’s staff began investigating the suitability of coal from the Karaganda, Kizelovsky, and Pechora Basins and also fields in Eastern Siberia, the Baikal region, and Central Asia. Many technologies for coal processing and the production of coke and chemical byproducts have been developed at VUKhIN. Biochemical wastewater treatment technology developed by VUKhIN has been introduced at enterprises in the former Soviet Union, Iran, and Turkey. VUKhIN has assisted in modernizing coal enrichment facilities for the coke industry. For the first time anywhere, selective crushing of coal with pneumatic separation in a fluidized bed has been put into practice. A method of ammonium sulfate production without the need for a saturator has been developed. Venturi scrubbers have been introduced. A scientific school of applied coal petrography has been founded. A theory of coking and has been developed, along with the scientific principles for industrial methods of coal preparation and coking. New technologies have been developed for coke production from poorly caking coal and for the production of special types of coke. Today, VUKhIN is the only Russian institute devoted to research, design, standardization, and development in coke production.