Immersive engineering blast furnace

What is a blast furnace?

A blast furnace is a system designed to turn iron oxide into pure, molten iron through the application of heat and the appearance of flux and coke. The furnace itself is a high stack, often created from steel. At the bottom is an air furnace and pump, which sends hot air into the stack in order to help the various chemical reactions required to convert the impure oxide into iron.

In other words, we can say it is basically a type of metallurgical furnace utilized for smelting to create industrial metals, usually pig iron, but more others like lead or copper. Blast refers to the combustion air being “forced” or provided above atmospheric pressure.

In this furnace, fuel (coke), ores, and flux (limestone) are continuously provided through the top of the furnace, while a hot blast of air (seldom with oxygen enrichment) is blown into the lower section of the furnace within a series of pipes called tuyeres, so that the chemical reactions take place during the furnace as the material falls downwards. The end results are normally molten metal and slag forms tapped from the bottom, and waste gases (flue gas) exiting from the top of the furnace. The earthward flow of the ore along with the flux in connection with an upflow of hot, carbon monoxide-rich combustion gases is a countercurrent change and chemical reaction process.

In opposition, air furnaces (such as reverberatory furnaces) are normally aspirated, regularly by the convection of hot gases in a furnace flue. According to this widespread definition, bloomeries for iron, blowing houses for tin, and smelt mills for lead would be listed as blast furnaces.

However, the term has normally been limited to those used for smelting iron ore to produce pig iron, a common material used in the production of commercial iron and steel, and the shaft furnaces used in joining with sinter plants in base metals smelting.

So its just a little bit intro of blast furnace now let’s have a look at immersive engineering and then immersive engineering blast furnaces.

Immersive Engineering is a module or a model designed by BluSunrize and Mr_Hazard. It adds a new Redstone Flux (RF)-based device with a retro-futuristic feeling to the game, and many of the machines are a multiblock structure. This Machine uses either low, medium or high voltages.

 Now, what is immersive engineering blast furnaces?

Immersive engineering blast furnaces are designed with immersive engineering techniques…

We have two categories of blast furnaces which are updated under the observations and principles of immersive engineering 

• Crude Blast Furnace
• Blast Brick

The Crude Blast Furnace (formerly named Blast Furnace) is a multiblock structure added by Immersive Engineering. It is crafted by ordering Blast Bricks into a solid 3x3x3 and right-clicking on the middle block of any face with an Engineer’s Hammer.  While the Engineer’s Hammer is a tool attached by Immersive Engineering, used for training multiblock and configuring numerous blocks, such as the Coke Oven and the LV Capacitor.

The Blast Brick (previously called the Blast Furnace) is a block added by Immersive Engineering. It is used in the creation of the Crude Blast Furnace and Reinforced Blast Brick.

How Does a Blast Furnace Work?

A blast furnace utilizes heat to convert iron oxides into liquid iron, which can then be used for a variety of industrial applications. The blast furnace is a brick-lined, stainless steel stack, which is burned using pre-heated air. Limestone, coke and iron ore are located in the blast furnace and heated. The coke, limestone and iron act in the presence of heat, producing slag and liquid iron. These liquids are then removed away and utilized elsewhere.

Introducing Some modern furnaces

Iron blast furnaces

The blast furnace will remain as an important part of modern iron production. Modern furnaces are very efficient, including Cowper stoves to pre-heat the blast air and employ recovery systems to remove the heat from the hot gases exiting the furnace. Competition in the industry drives higher production rates. The largest blast furnace in the world is in South Korea, with a volume of around 6,000 m³. It can produce around 5,650,000 tonnes (5,560,000 LT) of iron per year.

This is a high increase from the typical 18th-century furnaces, which equated about 360 tonnes (350 long tons; 400 short tons) per year. Variations of the blast furnace, such as the Swedish electric blast furnace, have been developed in countries that have no native coal resources.

Lead blast furnaces

Currently, Blast furnaces are infrequently used in copper smelting, but modern lead smelting blast furnaces are much smaller than iron blast furnaces and are of rectangular shape. The base of the furnace is home of refractory material (bricks or castable refractory). Lead blast furnaces are often open-topped rather than holding the charging bell used in iron blast furnaces.

The overall beam height is around 5 to 6 m. Modern lead blast furnaces are built using water-cooled steel or copper jackets for the walls and have no contrary linings in the side walls. 

The blast furnace used at the Nyrstar Port Pirie lead smelter varies from most other lead blast furnaces in that it has a double row of tuyeres rather than the single row commonly used. The lower shaft of the furnace has a chair shape with the lower part of the shaft being smaller than the upper. The lower row of tuyeres being located in the narrow part of the shaft. This supports the upper part of the shaft to be wider than the pattern.

Zinc blast furnaces (Imperial Smelting Furnaces)

The blast furnaces used in the Imperial Smelting Process shortly called ISP were developed from the standard lead blast furnace, but are completely sealed. This is because the zinc created by these furnaces is obtained as the metal from the vapor phase, and the presence of oxygen in the off-gas would result in the formation of zinc oxide.

Blast furnaces used in the ISP have a more serious operation than standard lead blast furnaces, with higher air blast rates per m² of hearth area and a higher coke consumption.

Zinc making with the ISP is more costly than with electrolytic zinc plants, so different smelters operating this technology have closed in recent years. However, ISP furnaces have the advantage of being able to treat zinc concentrates containing higher levels of lead than can electrolytic zinc plants.

So let’s see What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of a Blast Furnace?

Blast Furnace Advantages:

The main advantages of a blast furnace are that it is a cost-effective method of producing iron and steel, far cheaper than other methods. Mature technology and low production cost.

• Continuous feeding, continuous tapping, suitable for large-scale continuous production;
• Low power requirements;
• The product is further processed (continuous casting and rolling) with good performance.
• High efficiency.
• If done correctly, it can also be an opportunity to create energy.
• Blast furnace activity is also a continuous process, enabling large amounts of iron oxide to be transformed into pure, molten iron in a relatively short space of time.
• blast furnaces are relatively straight-forward to automate, creating further cost savings.

Blast furnace Disadvantages:

• Blast furnace ironmaking is inseparable from the coke source, but the coke resources are getting less and less, but the price is getting higher and higher, the cost of iron making will be higher and higher, and it is likely that one day will meet the depletion of coke resources.
• The blast furnace ironmaking damages the environment very much.
• The production process of blast furnace ironmaking is long.
• blast furnaces are that they consume a considerable amount of energy which causes a High energy consumption rate.
•  it can be difficult to source the correct type of materials to use in the blast furnace in order to get the required results.