The enthalpy of inlet coal and fuel gas is discharged from a coke-oven plant in the following forms: chemical and thermal enthalpy of incandescent coke, chemical and thermal enthalpy of coke-oven gas, thermal enthalpy of combustion exhaust gas, and waste heat from the body of the coke oven. In recent years the recovery of several kinds of waste energy from coke ovens has been promoted mainly for energy saving purposes, but also for the improvement of environmental conditions. Among the various devices yet realized, the substitution of the conventional wet quenching method with a coke dry cooling is the most technically and economically convenient. The aim of this paper is mainly a review of the main types of coke dry cooling plants and a detailed examination of the influence of some parameters, particularly of temperature and pressure of the produced steam, and on the exergy efficiency of these plants. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.