Today, we visit a particular place, a steel factory. This album will be divided in 3 parts. Here, we are going to see the blast furnace part.

 

History:

 

This steel factory opened during de XXe century and had been bought by ArcelorMital at the beginning of the XXIe century. At the end of this decade, we heard a lot about social plan and sites closing. This factory closed during those troubles.

Before 2010, the factory stopped it activity and was putted on standby, it was maintained. In 2010, it started again after an important upgrade. But it has worked only one year after, and a raw materials price increase, ArcelorMital closed definitively the factory.

 

Our Visit:

 

The site entry was difficult, there is a security guard and we know that he moves around the factory by car. So we are discreet.

The place is very large. The atmosphere is unique. The place is now quiet. This silence is frequently interrupted by noises caused by wind flowing on steal cladding.  

Cupper robbers have already done their job.

For the first day, we visited the blast furnace, coal conveyors and the second day, we visited the power plant.

 

Blast Furnace function:

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To explain simply, at the top of the Blast Furnace (BF), we convoy iron, coal and petroleum coke. Below, we have nozzles which put hot air (at 1800°C) on the BF.

The different elements which come from the top melt and transform during their decent because of different temperature.

At the bottom, we have molten steel. 

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