A blast furnace is an industrial facility used in the extraction of iron from its ore, and it plays a crucial role in the steel-making process. It is a tall, vertical structure that operates at extremely high temperatures, and it uses a mixture of iron ore, coke (a form of carbon), and limestone to produce molten iron, commonly known as pig iron.
Inside the furnace, the coke burns in the presence of hot air to create carbon monoxide, which reacts with the iron ore to reduce it to iron. The limestone helps remove impurities by forming slag, which can be separately removed from the molten iron.
Understanding the blast furnace is an important part of GCSE Chemistry, as it illustrates essential chemical reactions and processes involved in metal extraction.
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