Increasing coke impurities - is this really a problem for metal quality?

Abstract

Increases in the vanadium and nickel content of anode grade coke in recent years have predictably affected smelter metal quality. This has now reached the point where some smelters struggle to meet traditional metal purity specifications. New metallurgical studies have shown that metal specifications for impurities such as vanadium and nickel may be unnecessarily restrictive.