Blast Furnace

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The blast furnace relies on iron ore as the primary source of iron, combined with coke and pulverized coal to act as reducing agents, while lime or limestone serves as fluxing agents. The ultimate goal of blast furnace ironmaking is to generate high-quality hot metal suitable for the BOS steelmaking process. Generally speaking, the specifications required by a steel mill demand a hot metal with 0.3-0.7% Si, 0.2-0.4% Mn, and 0.06-0.13% P, alongside a temperature as high as possible (1480-1520 °C at tapping). A modern large-scale blast furnace boasts a hearth diameter of 14-15 meters, stands at a height of 35 meters with an internal volume of approximately 4500 cubic meters. In fact, one such massive blast furnace can produce a staggering 10,000 tonnes of hot metal every day.