Debt (Details Textual)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Aug. 12, 2018	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Repayments of long-term debt	$ 32,900,000	$ 149,500,000
Gain on debt extinguishment	20,400,000	$ (9,400,000)
Long-term debt	950,700,000			$ 1,003,800,000
Revolving credit facility
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Letters of credit outstanding under revolving facility	33,600,000
Remaining borrowing capacity	56,000,000
Contractual Obligations | Financial Standby Letter of Credit
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Letters of credit issued as collateral	30,800,000
Workers Compensation, General Liability and Other Financial Guarantee Obligations | Financial Standby Letter of Credit
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Letters of credit issued as collateral	1,500,000
Partnership notes, due 2020 | Senior notes
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Long-term debt	499,700,000			552,500,000
Partnership notes, due 2020 | Senior notes | SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P.
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Debt redemption amount	52,800,000
Repayments of long-term debt	32,600,000
Gain on debt extinguishment	20,400,000
Write off of unamortized original issue premium	200,000
SunCoke Revolving Credit Facility Due 2019 | Line of Credit | Revolving credit facility
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Long-term debt	60,400,000			60,400,000
Partnership Revolver Due 2019 | Line of Credit | Revolving credit facility
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Long-term debt	$ 182,000,000			182,000,000
Maximum consolidated leverage ratio	4.50
Minimum consolidated interest coverage ratio	2.5
Partnership Revolver Due 2019 | Line of Credit | Revolving credit facility | SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P.
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Letters of credit outstanding under revolving facility	$ 1,500,000
Long-term debt	182,000,000
Remaining borrowing capacity	66,500,000
Promissory Notes Due 2021 | Senior notes
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Long-term debt	114,000,000			$ 114,300,000
Repayment of senior debt	$ 300,000
Credit Agreement and Partner Revolver
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Maximum consolidated leverage ratio	3.25
Minimum consolidated interest coverage ratio	2.75
Credit Agreement and Partner Revolver | SunCoke Energy Partners, L.P.
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Cross default covenant threshold	$ 20,000,000
Raven Energy LLC Promissory Note | Convent Marine Terminal | Convent Marine Terminal
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Maximum consolidated leverage ratio	5
Minimum fixed charge coverage ratio	1
Raven Energy LLC Promissory Note | Convent Marine Terminal | Forecast | Convent Marine Terminal
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Maximum consolidated leverage ratio			4.5