Bloomery furnace

A bloomery furnace is a pre-industrial furnace capable of transforming iron ore extracted from nature into metal suitable for forging weapons, tools and other objects, without the use of hydraulic power. These reduction furnaces were arranged in the open air, with human power directly involved in the various production processes. They are usually constructed from clay, brick, or stone, and produce "blooms" of sponge iron.

Early bloomeries were small in size and usually half dug into the ground. They reached approximately one meter in height and their interior diameter was between 40 and 70 cm (15.75 to 27.5 inches) approximately. They were built with sandstone and clay and could optionally have a hole for waste to exit

Extraction of iron

the bloomery furnace has a function of extracting iron from iron oxide found in many ores like magnetite(Fe3O4)

Steps for the Extraction of iron in magnetite ore

-the charcoal inside the furnace is burned to produce heat necessary for the activation of the reaction and carbon monoxide which will react with the iron oxide in the form of a succesive reaction.

-the hematite(Fe2O3) is converted to magnetite(Fe3O4) via the reaction of carbon monoxide

Fe2O3 + CO → Fe3O4 + CO2

-Then the magnetite(Fe3O4) is converted to wüstite(FeO)

Fe3O4 + CO → 3FeO + CO2

-Finally the iron is produced from the reduction of wüstite(FeO)

FeO + CO → Fe + CO2

Dependencies

• Charcoal
• Coal
• Fire
• Fuel
• Wood
  • Kiln
  • Bloomery furnace
  • Oven
    • Brick
    • Clay
    • Iron ore
    • Sponge iron

See also

• Copper smelting
• Iron
• Kiln
• Wrought Iron

References

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Bloomery, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).