Electric Blast Furnace

an electric, ore-reducing shaft furnace for smelting pig iron from iron ores. It consists of a stack with overhead loading of the charge materials and a broad hearth below. Alternating current is supplied to inclined (sometimes horizontal) carbon electrodes. The heat required for the production process is evolved on the hearth from the electric arcs and from the heating of the charge and slag by the electric current passing through them.

The furnace design was developed in 1898 by E. Stassano in Italy. The first industrial electric blast furnace was placed in service in 1908 at the Domnarvet plant in Sweden. During the first quarter of the 20th century several dozen such furnaces were built, mainly in Sweden and Norway, but also in Italy and Japan. Their use proved economical in regions where there was little coking coal and electric power was inexpensive. Productivity, however, was low, and the furnaces were complicated to operate. As a result of such factors, and with the appearance and development of high-power, closed arc furnaces, the number of electric blast furnaces in use sharply diminished, and by the mid-1970’s operations had practically ceased.