Table of Contents
How does the smelting process work?
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy to produce a metal from its ore. Smelting uses heat and a chemical reducing agent to decompose the ore, driving off other elements as gasses or slag and leaving just the metal behind. The reducing agent is commonly a source of carbon such as coke, charcoal, and coal.
How does an iron furnace work?
The furnace charge, or burden, of iron-bearing materials (e.g., iron-ore pellets and sinter), coke, and flux (e.g., limestone) descends through the shaft, where it is preheated and reacts with ascending reducing gases to produce liquid iron and slag that accumulate in the hearth.
What did smelting do to iron?
Smelting most prominently takes place in a blast furnace to produce pig iron, which is converted into steel. The carbon source acts as a chemical reactant to remove oxygen from the ore, yielding the purified metal element as a product.
What level should I smelt iron?
Players with 15 or higher Smithing can smelt iron ore into an iron bar by using it on a furnace, granting 12.5 Smithing experience, although there is only a 50\% chance that you will be able to get a bar out of it unless smelted while wearing a ring of forging, using the Superheat Item spell from the standard spellbook.
What is the purpose of coke in the smelting process?
Coal Carbonization Metallurgical coke, along with iron ore and limestone, is layered into a blast furnace to convert the iron ore to metallic iron. Coke, which is mostly carbon, reacts with the blast air to produce carbon monoxide, which, in turn, reacts with the iron oxide to produce carbon dioxide and metallic iron.
How hot is a smelting furnace?
The hot blast is directed into the furnace through water-cooled copper nozzles called tuyeres near the base. The hot blast temperature can be from 900 °C to 1300 °C (1600 °F to 2300 °F) depending on the stove design and condition. The temperatures they deal with may be 2000 °C to 2300 °C (3600 °F to 4200 °F).