GB474408A - Improvements in or relating to the production of iron from iron ore - Google Patents

Abstract

474,408. Extracting iron. DUFFIELD, F. L. May 6, 1936, No. 12740. [Class 72] [Also in Group XII] In the production of iron, iron ores are granulated, mixed with carbonaceous material and with or without a binding agent, and moulded into blocks, slabs, briquettes or other shaped bodies, the latter then being fed into a bath of molten slag in a furnace interiorly heated by burners, so that they fall into and are submerged in the molten slag and are coated with the latter, the coating protecting them from the oxidizing gases in the furnace. The ore is reduced within the slag coating by the heat absorbed therefrom, and the iron particles drop to the bottom of the bath and coalesce so that they can be removed from the furnace in the form of relatively large masses of semi-molten iron, the latter being removed after the slag has been withdrawn. The iron is afterwards treated to remove any included slag. The process may be carried out in an oscillating furnace a which is heated by combustion of coal dust and 'air admitted tangentially through an aperture c in a cylindrical end chamber e, additional air being admitted tangentially through an aperture d. The molten slag is fed into the furnace through a passage f and the blocks through this passage or an auxiliary passage g. The passage f also acts as an exit for the combustion gases and is then completed by a movable flue k mounted on rollers. An auxiliary air jet l provided in the passage f, is directed towards the interior of the furnace. A slag tap hole n and a discharge door m are also provided.