A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.
In a blast furnace, fuel, ore, and flux (limestone) are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air (sometimes with oxygen enrichment) is blown into the lower section of the furnace, so that the chemical reactions take place throughout the furnace as the material moves downward. The end products are usually molten metal and slag phases tapped from the bottom, and flue gases exiting from the top of the furnace. The downward flow of the ore and flux in contact with an upflow of hot, carbon monoxide-rich combustion gases is a countercurrent exchange process.
Blast furnaces are to be contrasted with air furnaces (such as reverberatory furnaces), which were naturally aspirated, usually by the convection of hot gases in a chimney flue. According to this broad definition, bloomeries for iron, blowing houses for tin, and smelt mills for lead would be classified as blast furnaces. However, the term has usually been limited to those used for smelting iron ore to produce pig iron, an intermediate material used in the production of commercial iron and steel.
Read more about Blast Furnace: History, Modern Process, Process Engineering and Chemistry, Manufacture of Stone Wool, Decommissioned Blast Furnaces As Museum Sites
Other articles related to "furnaces, furnace, blast furnace, blast furnaces, blast":
... Smelting could be conducted in various types of furnaces, and the condition within the furnace may differ, thus affect the morphology, chemical composition and the microstructure of slag ... Take bloomery and blast furnace, which were two common methods for smelting iron, for example ... Blast furnaces were used to produce liquid iron ...
... a waterwheel) in working the inflatable bellows of the blast furnace in creating cast iron ... in subsequent dynastic periods continued the use of water power to operate the bellows of the blast furnace ... Wang Zhen explained the methods used for the water-powered blast-furnace in previous times and in his era of the 14th century “ According to modern study (+1313 ...
... Northamptonshire in November 1932, enabling them to make use of the local iron ore to feed their blast furnaces and Bessemer steel converters ... clearing of the site in 1933 the first of the Corby blast furnaces was lit in May the following year ... No.2 blast furnace was lit in November and the first steel came from the Bessemer converters on 27 December ...
... The furnace operated twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, except for when it was closed for repairs ... Cornwall Iron Furnace was capable of producing 24 tons of iron a week ... Carts loaded with charcoal passed to and fro between the coal barn and the furnace under a protective roof designed to keep the charcoal dry ...
... For a long time, it was normal procedure for a decommissioned blast furnace to be demolished and either be replaced with a newer, improved one, or to have the entire site ... countries have realized the value of blast furnaces as a part of their industrial history ... The largest number of preserved historic blast furnaces exists in Germany other such sites exist in Spain, France, the Czech Republic, Japan, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Mexico ...
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