Air conditioned blast furnace

✍ Scribed by R.H.O.

• Book ID: 104132195
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1940
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 41 KB
• Volume: 229
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-0032
• DOI: 10.1016/s0016-0032(40)90463-x

✦ Synopsis

Vol. 36, No. 12.)

The first air conditioned blast furnace is now successfully operating at the plant of the Woodward Iron Company at Woodward, 12 miles southwest of Birmingham. The 535 ton installation was made at an estimated cost of $75,ooo-The primary object of the installation is to control the moisture content, summer and winter, of the air blast required in blast furnace operation to the end that a more uniform product can be produced. The value of having a dry blast in the process has long been recognized, but the Woodward Company was the first to turn to modern air conditioning to attain this objective. The capacity of the furnaces at Woodward is 400 to 550 tons of iron per day, and the air required is from 45,000 to 50,000 c.f.m, or about 2700 tons of air per day. Thus for every ton of iron produced, 5.6 tons of air must be conditioned. In smelting, the principal functions of the furnace are to dry the charge, release the calcium from the carbonates, reduce the metallic oxides in the ore, and to melt the iron. To accomplish these objectives, air is blown into the furnace where the combustion of the coke results in a temperature of around 3000 ° F. Carbon dioxide is formed but immediately broken down into carbon monoxide which is a powerful reducing agent. While President Berg of the company has made public no figures as to the performance of the equipment, decision to proceed with the second furnace is taken as evidence that the installation has proved satisfactory in its major purpose of affording a more uniform product through scientific control of heat, moisture and air blast.

R. H. O.