<p>Petroleum coke water slurry stability is essential for storage and transportation. The present study examined the rheological behavior and stability performance of petroleum coke water slurry using a bead mill and sodium lignosulfonate as a dispersant and stabilizer.This method achieves smaller particle sizes (290 nm) for PCWS, improving dispersion compared to conventional CWS systems. To this end, the effects of particle size distribution (PSD), sodium lignosulfonate (SL) concentration, milling time, and pH of petroleum coke water slurry were investigated. Apparent viscosity and rheological properties were measured using a rotary rheometer. The results revealed that the apparent viscosity of petroleum coke water slurry decreased with the addition of sodium lignosulfonate concentration. Petroleum coke water slurry behaved as a pseudo-plastic fluid with the addition of sodium lignosulfonate. The rheological characteristic curves exhibited pseudo-shear-thinning fluid characteristics with increasing sodium lignosulfonate concentration. Petroleum coke water slurry with 6&#xa0;wt% sodium lignosulfonate showed the best stability performance. By increasing the milling time and decreasing the particle size, the apparent viscosity of petroleum coke water slurry decreases, and the zeta potential increases. This, in turn, increases the stability of petroleum coke water slurry. The results showed that pH of around 9 was found to be the most favorable environment to rheological characteristics. At pH 11, the zeta potential reached its highest point, measuring 64.1&#xa0;mV.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>