PIG IRON is made,in a BLAST FURNACE,from RAW ORE,COKE and LIMESTONE.
Iron oxides can come to the blast furnace plant in the form of raw ore,
pellets or sinter. The raw ore is removed from the earth and sized into pieces
that range from 0.5 to 1.5 inches. This ore is either Hematite or Magnetite
and the iron content ranges from 50% to 70%. This iron rich ore can be charged
directly into a blast furnace without any further processing.
Iron ore that contains a lower iron content must be further processed to
increase its iron content.
Pellets are produced from this lower iron content ore. This ore is crushed
and ground into a powder so the waste material called gangue can be removed.
The remaining iron-rich powder is rolled into balls and fired in a furnace to
produce strong, marble-sized pellets that contain 60% to 65% iron.
Sinter is produced from fine raw ore, small coke, sand-sized limestone
and numerous other steel plant waste materials that contain some iron.
These fine materials are proportioned to obtain a desired product chemistry
then mixed together. This raw material mix is then placed on a sintering strand,
which is similar to a steel conveyor belt, where it is ignited by gas fired
furnace and fused by the heat from the coke fines into larger size pieces
that are from 0.5 to 2.0 inches.
HOW ARE THE INGREDIENTS SHIPPED ?
Iron Oxides, pellets and siniters are shipped in open hoppers.
Coke is shipped in open and closed hoppers.
Limestone is shipped in closed hoppers.
WHAT IS IT USED FOR ?
PIG IRON is the main ingredient of STEEL
PIG IRON ,in the molten state is transported to the Basic Oxygen furnace
or to the Electric Arc furnace in giant open ladles handled by overhead cranes.
For more information and an animated blast furnace CLICK HERE [This Lycos-hosted page is no longer active.]
© S.A. McCall