How is iron produced in the blast furnace?

Blast furnaces produce pig iron from iron ore by the reducing action of carbon (supplied as coke) at a high temperature in the presence of a fluxing agent such as limestone.

Also know, what are the products of blast furnace?

The furnace is fed with iron ore, pellets, and/or sinter, flux and slag producing material such as limestone or dolomite, and coke for fuel. The blast air causes the iron oxides, flux, and coke to react and iron, carbon monoxide and blast-furnace slag is produced.

Also, what happens to most of the hot iron from blast furnaces? The hot air blast to the furnace burns the coke and maintains the very high temperatures that are needed to reduce the ore to iron. The reaction between air and the fuel generates carbon monoxide. This gas reduces the iron (III) oxide in the ore to iron.

Similarly, it is asked, why is iron produced in a blast furnace converted into steel?

The combustion of iron ore with other materials in the blast furnace produces molten pig iron, which is then converted to steel. Limestone is added to the blast furnace to capture impurities and create a waste slag. Oxygen reacts with the high levels of carbon in the pig iron and scrap to form CO and CO2.

How is iron produced?

Manufacture of iron. Iron is produced by reduction of iron ore, which is often a mixture of oxides, using carbon, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen. Iron is one of the most abundant elements on Earth and its ores commonly contain oxygen, silicon, manganese, phosphorus and sulfur.

34 Related Question Answers Found

What fuel is used in a blast furnace?

coke

Why is it called a blast furnace?

Blast furnace is known because his process by which preheated high pressure (blast air) air is entered in furnace through numbers of tuyere as per capacity of furnace in tuyere Zone is above the Tapping Hole and hold the charged burden from Top of furnace which is pressured furnace tataly sealed from atmosphere

What are the chemical reactions in a blast furnace?

In the blast furnace, there are several chemical reactions taking place; that eventually result in the desired product (iron) being extracted. The coke (carbon) burns with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide. This reaction is exothermic. The CO₂ then reacts with more coke to give carbon monoxide.

Why Coke is used in blast furnace?

Coke is used as a fuel and as a reducing agent in smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. The carbon monoxide produced by its combustion reduces iron oxide (hematite) to the iron product.

Why limestone is used in blast furnace?

Limestone is also used to remove impurities from the blast furnace when making iron. The impurities are mostly silicon dioxide (also known as sand). The calcium carbonate in the limestone reacts with the silicon dioxide to form calcium silicate (also known as slag).

Why Dolomite is used in blast furnace?

High silica (SiO2) content in the dolomite used for sintering purpose is preferred since SiO2 counter the effect of alumina (Al2O3) in the blast furnace. But the second role of calcined dolomite is the more important role. In this role it is used to protect the magnesia-carbon lining of the steelmaking vessel.

What are the waste gases in a blast furnace?

(top gas), the waste gas from blast furnaces; mainly the products of the incomplete combustion of carbon. Its chemical composition during the smelting of cast iron on coal coke is 12–20 percent carbon dioxide, 20–30 percent carbon monoxide, up to 0.5 percent methane, 1–4 percent hydrogen, and 55–58 percent nitrogen.

What is the function of Tuyeres in blast furnace?

Tuyeres are small pipes that permit hot air from the bustle pipe to enter the blast furnace. They are special shaped nozzles through which hot air blast is injected into the blast furnace. They are made of copper and are usually water cooled since they are directly exposed to the furnace temperature.

What is the major impurity in iron ore?

The main impurity is silica (sand or rock) which is silicon dioxide. and the furnace would become blocked if it was not removed. to form calcium silicate (called slag) which is liquid in the furnace.

What is iron mixed with steel?

To make steel, iron ore is first mined from the ground. It is then smelted in blast furnaces where the impurities are removed and carbon is added. In fact, a very simple definition of steel is "iron alloyed with carbon, usually less than 1%."

Why is steel stronger than iron?

Something made of pure iron is softer than steel because the atoms can slip over one another. If other atoms like carbon are added, they are different from iron atoms and stop the iron atoms from sliding apart so easily. This makes the metal stronger and harder.

What type of reaction produces the iron?

The blast furnace

Iron is extracted from iron ore in a huge container called a blast furnace. Iron ores such as haematite contain iron(III) oxide, Fe ₂O ₃. The oxygen must be removed from the iron(III) oxide in order to leave the iron behind. Reactions in which oxygen is removed are called reduction reactions.

What are the types of steel?

When determining the type of steel that you want to buy, it is important to know there are four different types of steel that are classified based on their chemical structure and physical properties: carbon steels, alloy steels, stainless steels, and tool steels. We'll outline each of the following steel types below.

Why is iron from blast furnace harder than pure iron?

The iron made in a blast furnace is an alloy containing about 90–95 percent iron, 3–4 percent carbon, and traces of other elements such as silicon, manganese, and phosphorus, depending on the ore used. Pig iron is much harder than 100 percent pure iron, but still too weak for most everyday purposes.

Why feco3 is not used in blast furnace?

The recovered ore also has drawbacks. The carbonate ore is more difficult to smelt than a haematite or other oxide ore. Driving off the carbonate as carbon dioxide requires more energy and so the ore 'kills' the blast furnace if added directly. Spathic iron ores are rich in manganese and have negligible phosphorus.

How is iron made from iron ore?

The rock containing iron ore is ground and the ore is extracted using magnetic rollers. Fine-grained iron ore is processed into coarse-grained clumps for use in the blast furnace. A mixture of iron ore and coal is then heated in a blast furnace to produce molten iron, or pig iron, from which steel is made.

Which is closest to the purest form of the iron?

Wrought Iron is the purest form of iron. It contains 0.12 to 0.25% carbon and so it is the purest form of iron.