How pig iron is manufactured in a 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.

What is the process to manufacture pig iron?

Pig iron is produced by smelting or iron ore in blast furnaces or by smelting ilmenite in electric furnaces. Pig iron is supplied in a variety of ingot sizes and weights, ranging from 3 kg up to more than 50 kg. The vast majority of pig iron is produced and consumed within integrated steel mill complexes.

How did pig iron furnaces work?

A bellows that was connected to a river or creek-powered wheel would supply air for the fire to burn at temperatures up to 3000 degrees. The byproduct of heating iron created a material called slag, with silicon compounds that give it a glass-like sheen. Slag can still be found along riverbanks close to a furnace.

How is cast iron made from pig iron?

Pig iron is melted (using hot air blast) with scrap iron and coke to form cast iron. Carbon content is around 3% and cast iron is extremely hard and brittle.

How is steel produced from pig iron?

Decarburization. To reduce the carbon content in pig iron and obtain the desired carbon content of steel, the pig iron is re-melted and oxygen is blown through in a process called basic oxygen steelmaking, which occurs in a ladle.

Blast Furnace(Pig Iron Production)

Which furnace is used to produce pig iron?

A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. Blast refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric pressure.

Why is pig iron called pig iron?

The iron produced is called "pig iron" because originally the molten iron was poured into sand pits and the resulting solid iron resembled a pig! Another story is that the system looked like piglets feeding from a sow.

How is cast iron manufactured?

It is made by reducing iron ore in a blast furnace. The liquid iron is cast, or poured and hardened, into crude ingots called pigs, and the pigs are subsequently remelted along with scrap and alloying elements in cupola furnaces and recast into molds for producing a variety of products.

What is pig iron and cast iron?

The iron obtained from blast furnace is called pig iron. It contains about 4% carbon and many other impurities like S,P,Si,Mn etc. Cast, iron, on the other hand, is made by melting pig iron with scrap iron and coke using hot air blast.

How does a blast furnace work step by step?

How steel is made in blast furnace?

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%."

How is slag formed in a blast furnace?

Blast furnace slag (BFS) is a by-product from iron production in blast furnaces, which are fed by a mixture of iron-ore, coke and limestone. In the process, the iron ore is reduced to iron while all remaining materials form the slag, which is tapped off as a molten liquid and cooled.

What are the materials used in the production of pig iron?

The raw materials used to produce pig iron in a blast furnace are iron ore, coke, sinter, and limestone. Iron ores are mainly iron oxides and include magnetite, hematite, limonite, and many other rocks. The iron content of these ores ranges from 70% down to 20% or less.

What are the raw materials required to manufacture pig iron?

The main raw materials required for producing pig-iron are: Iron ore, coke, limestone. Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore. In a blast furnace, coke (C) reacts with oxygen to form carbon monoxide, which then reacts with iron oxide to form carbon dioxide and pig iron.

Which iron ore is used in blast furnace?

Iron is mainly extracted from hematite (Fe₂O₃) and magnetite ores. Natural or direct shipping iron ores contain between 50-70% iron and can be fed directly into the blast furnace. Fe₃O₄ decomposes when heated to ferrous oxide (FeO) and ferric oxide (Fe₂O₃) via Fe₃O₄ → FeO + Fe₂O₃.

In which furnace cast iron is manufactured?

Manufacture of Cast-Iron:

The cast-iron is manufactured by re-melting pig-iron with coke and limestone. This re-melting is done in a furnace known as the cupola furnace.

Which furnace is used for manufacturing of cast iron?

cupola furnace, in steelmaking, a vertical cylindrical furnace used for melting iron either for casting or for charging in other furnaces.

Where is cast iron manufactured?

Most cast iron sold by Lodge is produced in its foundry in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, which has been in operation since the company was founded.

Why is the product of blast furnace called pig iron?

The iron mass was then hammered to remove the slag, yielding wrought iron. Increases in the height of the furnace, coupled with mechanical bellows for introducing greater amounts of air into it, allowed the higher temperatures needed to produce a high-carbon iron known as cast, or pig, iron.

Who invented pig iron?

This was invented in 1828 by James Beaumont Neilson and transformed the iron industry, launching the second phase of the industrial revolution in Scotland. The iron was made at 1500 degrees Celcius in huge 60 foot high furnaces before being cast in beds of sand as a series of bars called pigs.

What is pig iron used for?

Pig iron is a solid form of hot metal, obtained from iron ore or scrap recycling, and it is processed with blast furnace or electric arc furnace. Pig iron is used as a raw material for iron steel making and most of this material was imported.

What is produced in blast furnace?

Blast furnace produces Hot metal (Liquid Iron) using Iron ore, Coke, Sinter, Pellets and fluxes such as Lime-stone, Pyroxenite, Quartzite reacting with oxygen from pre heated air.

How is slag produced?

Steel slag, a by-product of steel making, is produced during the separation of the molten steel from impurities in steel-making furnaces. The slag occurs as a molten liquid melt and is a complex solution of silicates and oxides that solidifies upon cooling.