Blast furnaces are used in iron smelting, with a tower shape and safety doors for feeding raw materials. They combine coal, iron ore, and flux to produce pig iron, and have remained largely unchanged since the Middle Ages. Blast furnaces are still an important part of the steelmaking process and are relatively inexpensive to operate and maintain.
Blast furnaces are devices that are used in the iron smelting process. The heat created in the furnace allows iron to be produced from iron oxide minerals. A jet of air contained inside the blast furnace itself helps to intensify the degree of heat, speeding up the melting process.
In appearance, the typical blast furnace has the shape of a tower. Safety doors are mounted on the front of the device, allowing you to feed raw materials into the oven both manually and with the use of a conveyor belt. Some ovens of this type are also equipped with a drawer at the base which makes the collection of slag and other finished products much easier.
Furnaces of this type are often used in the steelmaking process. A blast furnace is ideal for combining coal and iron ore together. The extreme heat in this type of furnace allows both substances to be melted into an integrated liquid metal which ultimately forms what is known as pig iron. Cast iron is occasionally removed from the furnace base and used in the creation of a number of different types of building materials.
Along with coal and iron ore, limestone or some other type of flux may also be introduced into the mix. The design of the kiln tower makes it very easy to control the degree of heat generated in the main chamber, thus allowing the operator to temper raw materials as needed. While many aspects of ironworking have benefited from modern technology, the basic design and operation of the blast furnace has remained virtually unchanged for centuries, as it is still the cheapest way to produce iron on a large scale.
The origin of the blast furnace is usually traced back to China during the 5th century BC In the Middle Ages, the use of this type of furnace was found in England and parts of Europe. The device’s current design is often attributed to various early 18th-century innovators, who honed the blast furnace’s ability to produce greater quantities of product in a single session. At the same time, this new design also allows the blast furnace gas produced by the release of carbon monoxide from the coal to be used as a reducing agent for the pig iron created in the furnace.
Furnaces of this type remain an important part of the steelmaking process worldwide. Relatively inexpensive to operate and maintain, a blast furnace can last for generations before needing replacement. The economics of the furnace help ensure that steelmakers are able to remain competitive in today’s world, even when metals produced by other methods become difficult to sell.
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