Question
If any of you are into casting bullets there’s a really great lead smelter
at Bass Pro for $54 that can melt 80 lbs. of lead or more in 30 min. It’s
sold as a “fish cooker” but c’mon, we all know a lead smelter when we see
it.

Answers
The process of smelting Lead, which roughly consists of reducing Lead ore
(Galena) to metalic Lead, is not something I’d care to do in a fish pot.
Come to think of it, I’d rather not attempt it at all. Too many nasty
Sulpher compounds get released. Now if you have a line on a Bass Pro handy
home shot tower…

Associated Smelter Lead Furnace Question: Are there any vapors or gasses to worry about when melting lead?
I have allot of bits and scraps of lead i want to make into a single bar with my furnace but don’t know if there are any deadly gasses or fumes to worry about when melting it in a propane powered furnace and if i need to use my arc smelter so any info would be great thanks in advance bye!

• Answer:”Lead Gas…its like mustard but deadlier”. Nonsense. With molten lead, there will, of course, be some lead that goes into the vapor phase. It would be best to avoid breathing the vapor and do this in a well ventilated area. People have been working around molten lead for years with no ill effects. When electronic technicians are soldering circuits using lead solder, some lead goes into the vapor state. Again, ventilation is the key. For hundreds of years people have cast lead bullets from molten lead with no ill effects, save for when the bullet is fired from a gun. The bottom line is that there will be some fumes, and you should avoid breathing them. Get a fan.

Question

My name is Maristela Gomes da Silva and I’m a Phd student of Civil
Construction Engineering Department of Sao Paulo University, Brazil.
I’m a professor of Espirito Santo University.

We are studing the recycling of some residues in building construction
and one of them is the blast furnace slag. We are trying to produce
cements of blast furnace slag (without clinker) and use steam curing in
order to reach high strength in short period of time. This cement will be
used to produce glass fiber reinforced pannels.

So, I’d like to talk with researches that are dealing with this subjets.
My e-mail is margo…@spider.usp.br.

Answers
Go to the archives of the engineering-concrete mail group.

http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists-a-e/engineering-concrete

Associated Slag Furnace Question: How would the inclusion of large amounts of slag affect the chemical analysis of molten metal in a furnace?
If a furnace had previously been melting AISI304, then switched over to AISI316 and there were large deposits of 304 slag in the furnace; in what way would this affect the 316 about to be charged and if at all, why? I understand fully what slag is and why it’s there. What i’m asking is what effect would large amounts of residual 304 or 301 slag have on further melts, in this case the following melt is 316 stainless steel? Would there be any dilution, for example, of the Ni and Mo units? Tom B, thanks but ‘obviously’ your answer’s incorrect. Thanks Ice Cold, no i’m a supplier of raw product and coolant. I’m just looking for a definitive answer to a quation from a colleague. Tom B, thanks also, but I can find no data on the Y443g calc?

• Answer:well obviously the AISI304 would become contaiminated and skew all resulting analysis. forget that slag, get something that burns cleaner, hotter, smoother. try new formula Y443g. it works everytime.

Associated Slag Furnace Question:What are advantages of using blast furnace slag in making cement?

• Answer:its cheap and produces better stuff

Associated Slag Furnace Question:Why does slag come out of the blast furnace lower than 1530°C?
Thanks Also, what process does slag floating on iron prevent from occuring in the iron? Thanks

• Answer:a. the slag is below the tuyeres b. oxidation.

Associated Slag Furnace Question:How to remove slag from steel furnace?

• Answer:It is run off first .Whist still in a liquid state.

Associated Slag Furnace Question:iron slag,coreless induction furnace,manufacturing?
can iron slag from a coreless induction furnace be recycled for future charges in the same furnace ?

• Answer:Some reactive slags can be recycled (i.e. those there to draw out hydrogen or phosphorus & sulphur) it depends on the relative level of contamination and pH balance- but these are not normally used on cast iron (if that is what you mean). The trouble with using these reactive slags with coreless induction furnaces is that the furnace refractories need to be appropriate for the slag (so that they don’t eat away the furnace walls) For cast iron, the slag is mainly from the oxide formed during melting and is pretty “dumb” – only preventing further oxidation and allowing pick-up of larger floating inclusions (these slags are iron and silicon rich and solidify to a glassy mass). Most spent slags (as long as they don’t contain any “nasties”) are used for road surfacing balast (or clinker). If you ever find yourself in Avesta in Sweden there are a number of structures (including an old restaurant) which are built from old slag blocks – the chromium content of the slag has turned them a deep green colour (very pretty). So the actual answer to your question is – it depends on what the slag was in the first place and what it was covering.

Associated Slag Furnace Question:After the formation of calcium silicate slag from CaO in a blst furnace, how are the other impurities removed?

• Answer:I assume you mean how are the other impurities removed from the iron. The principal impurities remaining are carbon and sulfur. The sulfur can be removed by blowing in magnesium powder, which combines with it to form magnesium sulfide (this floats to the surface). The carbon is removed by oxidizing it. There are various methods, but the most widely used today is the “basic oxygen” process. In this process, oxygen is blown through the molten iron and the carbon simply burns out. Note that the iron from the blast furnace contains about 4% carbon, whereas steel contains anywhere between a trace and 2% (usually less than 1%). That’s why it’s necessary to remove some of the carbon to make steel. Other alloying elements are often added to the molten steel after adjusting the carbon content.

Associated Slag Furnace Question:is the waste slag from a blast furnace harmful to the environment?

• Answer:no. What would really be harmful to the environment would be if we did what the environmental whacko cdmmunists want – outlaw steel and all other production. We’d then have to live like the people on easter Island, who destroyed their environment by over fishing, over hunting, and cutting down every friggin last tree.

Associated Slag Furnace Question:ct:What is the use of limestone in a blast furnace?
I know that limestone is calcium oxide. It is combined with coke and iron ore in order to produce molten iron (alond with slag). I need to know and understand why calcium oxide is added to the furnace. Thank you.

• Answer:I’ll try to answer this completely, however, it is impossible to accurately format a chemical formula on this site, therefore all numbers in parentheses are subscripts. Limestone is calcite or calcium carbonate, i.e. CaCO(3). By heating calcium carbonate it is thermally decomposed into calcium oxide (quick lime), CaO, and carbon dioxide, CO(2). It is this calcium oxide that is added to the process. The primary impurity in any ore is silica or silicon dioxide, SiO(2), which remains a solid even at blast furnace temperatures. However, the silicon dioxide must be removed both for purity of the iron and to prevent the furnace from clogging up. Calcium oxide reacts with silicon dioxide chemically to form calcium silicate, or slag. The formula is CaO + SiO(2) = CaSiO(3). This is molten at blast furnace temperatures and floats on top of the molten iron. It is then removed and cooled into hardened slag. Thus, the lime from limestone combines with the silica and allows the separation of the iron from the silica impurities.

Associated Slag Furnace Question:What material is a blast furnace made of?
In the process of melting iron ore, what material is the blast furnace or the crucible (on a smaller scale) made of? Wouldn’t the container have to be a stronger metal with a higher melting point than the contents within it? The same question applies for the mold that the slag is channeled through and finally set to cool down. And say the container is made of steel, what container was used to house that liquid metal while is was produced? And so on…

• Answer:Molten metals of all kinds are contained in materials that are best described as ceramics: Either pure ceramic materials, or carbon-bonded ceramics. The lining materials are selected to have a low tendency to reduce back to their metallic states. Metals, even metals with very different melting points, tend to alloy with each other, resulting in a new compound. You could see this by melting aluminum in a cast iron pot. The aluminum will eat through it pretty quickly. The exception to this is Platinum, but at $1,180/oz, that doesn’t help. On to your specifics: Vesuvius is the world’s largest supplier of foundry refractories, meaning temperature resistant materials. Their website has some handy charts showing their products you would use for all kinds of molten metal applications. See the links below. For the actual cast piece, these are usually done in a sand mold that gets re-made for each new piece. Kuenkel Wagner makes machines to make these sand molds, and has some neat videos explaining this process. Once the part has cooled, the sand is removed.

Associated Slag Furnace Question:Why is limestone added to a blast furnace during the extraction of iron from its ore?
The main products of this reaction are iron, slag and oxides of carbon.

• Answer:Well I have my Chemistry paper in 4 days so i think i can help u Limestone is added to the blast furnace to remove impurities (such as as sand(Silicon Dioxide)) from the iron ore. Limestone is decomposed to lime: CaCO3 —-> CaO (lime) + CO2 The lime then reacts with the sand to form ’slag’. The slag is then removed from the furnace as it is molten and can be tapped off. CaO + SiO2 (Sand) ——> CaSiO3 (slag) Hope it helps….

Question
Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and
weighs 30 tones, computers in the future by the year 2000 may have only
1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons

Answers
Scale is iron oxide; slag is iron silicates alonmg with weird
stuff (Calcium-Iron mixes) depending on what impurities and what
fluxing medium you are using.

Note: you get scale anytime you heat iron in an oxy atmosphere.
Slag is a byproduct of melting or refining iron—EXCEPT for
wrought iron that includes some slag as part of the composition.
Heating and beating wrought iron can produce slag droplits form
outr of the piece—especially on the lower grades of WI and BTW
this is Wrought Iron the *MATERIAL* and not wrought iron the *TECHNIQUE*.

Associated Slag Blast Furnace Question: What are advantages of using blast furnace slag in making cement?

• Answer:its cheap and produces better stuff

Associated Slag Blast Furnace Question: Why does slag come out of the blast furnace lower than 1530°C?
Thanks Also, what process does slag floating on iron prevent from occuring in the iron? Thanks

• Answer:a. the slag is below the tuyeres b. oxidation.

Associated Slag Blast Furnace Question: is the waste slag from a blast furnace harmful to the environment?

• Answer:no. What would really be harmful to the environment would be if we did what the environmental whacko cdmmunists want – outlaw steel and all other production. We’d then have to live like the people on easter Island, who destroyed their environment by over fishing, over hunting, and cutting down every friggin last tree.

Associated Slag Blast Furnace Question: What material is a blast furnace made of?
In the process of melting iron ore, what material is the blast furnace or the crucible (on a smaller scale) made of? Wouldn’t the container have to be a stronger metal with a higher melting point than the contents within it? The same question applies for the mold that the slag is channeled through and finally set to cool down. And say the container is made of steel, what container was used to house that liquid metal while is was produced? And so on…

• Answer:Molten metals of all kinds are contained in materials that are best described as ceramics: Either pure ceramic materials, or carbon-bonded ceramics. The lining materials are selected to have a low tendency to reduce back to their metallic states. Metals, even metals with very different melting points, tend to alloy with each other, resulting in a new compound. You could see this by melting aluminum in a cast iron pot. The aluminum will eat through it pretty quickly. The exception to this is Platinum, but at $1,180/oz, that doesn’t help. On to your specifics: Vesuvius is the world’s largest supplier of foundry refractories, meaning temperature resistant materials. Their website has some handy charts showing their products you would use for all kinds of molten metal applications. See the links below. For the actual cast piece, these are usually done in a sand mold that gets re-made for each new piece. Kuenkel Wagner makes machines to make these sand molds, and has some neat videos explaining this process. Once the part has cooled, the sand is removed.

Associated Slag Blast Furnace Question: The Extraction of Iron: The Blast Furnace?
What property enables the molten iron to be separanted from the molten slag in the blast furnace? answer a.s.ap! thanks x xx

• Answer:Slag is the result of the reaction of the calcium from the limestone used to charge the furnace and impurities, largely silicon in the iron ore. These calcium silicates are much less dense than the molten iron and so float on the surface. Tapping of the iron takes place through tapping holes at a level lower then the surface, so it is simple physical seperation that allows the iron to be drawn off from underneath the slag

Associated Slag Blast Furnace Question: What is the use of limestone in a blast furnace?
I know that limestone is calcium oxide. It is combined with coke and iron ore in order to produce molten iron (alond with slag). I need to know and understand why calcium oxide is added to the furnace. Thank you.

• Answer:I’ll try to answer this completely, however, it is impossible to accurately format a chemical formula on this site, therefore all numbers in parentheses are subscripts. Limestone is calcite or calcium carbonate, i.e. CaCO(3). By heating calcium carbonate it is thermally decomposed into calcium oxide (quick lime), CaO, and carbon dioxide, CO(2). It is this calcium oxide that is added to the process. The primary impurity in any ore is silica or silicon dioxide, SiO(2), which remains a solid even at blast furnace temperatures. However, the silicon dioxide must be removed both for purity of the iron and to prevent the furnace from clogging up. Calcium oxide reacts with silicon dioxide chemically to form calcium silicate, or slag. The formula is CaO + SiO(2) = CaSiO(3). This is molten at blast furnace temperatures and floats on top of the molten iron. It is then removed and cooled into hardened slag. Thus, the lime from limestone combines with the silica and allows the separation of the iron from the silica impurities.

Associated Slag Blast Furnace Question: Why is limestone added to a blast furnace during the extraction of iron from its ore?
The main products of this reaction are iron, slag and oxides of carbon.

• Answer:Well I have my Chemistry paper in 4 days so i think i can help u Limestone is added to the blast furnace to remove impurities (such as as sand(Silicon Dioxide)) from the iron ore. Limestone is decomposed to lime: CaCO3 —-> CaO (lime) + CO2 The lime then reacts with the sand to form ’slag’. The slag is then removed from the furnace as it is molten and can be tapped off. CaO + SiO2 (Sand) ——> CaSiO3 (slag) Hope it helps….

Associated Slag Blast Furnace Question: Questions on the production of Iron in a blast furnace.?
I am currently working on an assignment and I came across these questions that I am not clear of. 1. Why is the temperature of the slag much lower than 1600 degrees? 2. What process does the slag prevents from occuring in the iron? (sloag floats on it) 3. Why might the furnace explode if wet substances were added?

• Answer: This Question has not been answered yet! Send us Your best slag blast furnace Answer!

Associated Slag Blast Furnace Question: A blast furnace is operated continuously, sometimes for several years, without break, why is this?
either: 1.To improve the quality of iron 2.To keep down the cost of the energy used 3.So that large stockpiles of ore do not accumulate 4.so less waste slag is produced

• Answer:1. The quality of iron is dependant on the quality of ore, not whehter the furnace is turned on and off. 2. It takes a lot of energy to get a blast furnace up to temperature and as ore cannot be processed until it is at temperature then it seems logical to keep it running to keep down energy costs. 3. This is the standard dummy answer. 4. the amount of slag produced isn’t a factror of temperature but ore quality.

Associated Slag Blast Furnace Question: Question on blast furnace(Data based)?
The table below show the densities and melting point of substances used in the blast furnace, at normal atmospheric pressure Magnesium oxide (density=3.58)(melting point=2900 degrees) Calcium oxide (Density=3.35)(melting point=2600 degrees) Calcium silicate(Density=2.50)(1530 degree) Iron(Density=7.80)(1539 degree) Question Why is it that the slag coming out of the Furnace(its temperature is lower than 1530 degree) (is it because when it come out of furnace, it exist as solid state?) Slag float on Iron(What process does this prevent from occuring in the iron? is it decanting?) The Furnace is lined with magnesium oxide bricks, suggest 1 physical property and 1 chemical property why magnesium oxide is used?(I know that physical property is because it has high melting point? What about its chemical property?(Is it because it is thermally stable, thus it will not decompose?) Suggest why magnesium oxide has higher density and higher melting point than calcium oxide(Is it because the bonds in magnesium oxide is stronger than calcium oxide then it has high melting point?) What about the density? Can sumone help please thank alot

• Answer:Q:Why is it that the slag coming out of the Furnace A:Slag, CaSiO3(Calcium silicate) is generally the impurites in an ore example iron ore, Fe2O3. nope when it come out of the furanace its in liquid state, when it cool downs it became a powdery form. Slag has lower density then iron. and the purpose of blast furnance is to remove slag. Q:Slag float on Iron A:Slag has lower density than iron hence i ron will sink and go to the bottom part of the furance. Q:The Furnace is lined with magnesium oxide bricks, suggest 1 physical property and 1 chemical property why magnesium oxide is used? A:Magnesium Oxide is a stable compound hence it will not react with anything inside the blast furance to form another new compound Q:Suggest why magnesium oxide has higher density and higher melting point than calcium oxide A: In the perodic table. Ca has one extra quantum shells than Mg. Hence the radii of Ca is larger than Mg. As lattice energy is proportional to Charge of ion /Radii of ion. Mg forming Mg2+ has smaller radius than Ca2+ hence lattice energy is larger. With larger lattice energy,the attraction between Mg2+ and O2- is larger hence, more energy is require to break the attraction in MgO. Higher density because the lattice energy is large in order to hold the anions and cations together closely which means the space between O2- and Mg2+ is smaller. Hence number of ions per 1 cubic meter is higher which leads to higher density.

Question
Has anyone heard of this so called “disc furnace” that
I’ve seen advertised by the name of “Pelonis Heater”?
It has the shape of a box about 1 foot in each dimension
and can supposedly heat a 17′ by 20′ room for “68c” a day.
Or so it says in the newspaper ad I saw. The advertised
cost is $100. Thanks in advance.

Answers
The Pelonis Heater is a perfectly good 1500 watt heater that
produces 5120 BTU/hour. Of course, *any* 1500 watt electric
heater will produce 5120 BTU/hour.

It’s sturdily made, has a thermostat, and is relatively small.
However, many far less expensive heaters will do just as
good a job at heating a 17′ by 20′ room for 68c a day.

Associated Pelonis Furnace Question: Which is more cost efficient heating a home with natural gas heat or heating a home with a Ceramic heater?
We are moving into a home in two weeks that has 2 bedrooms, a medium size living room, medium size dinning room, a small kitchen, small laundry room, and a small bathroom. The house is a brick house and from what we are being told its insulated good. Our landlord told us if we used 3 of whats called a Pelonis Ceramic Furnace we would save money. We were told these Ceramic Furnaces were cheaper to run then using gas heat. Do these Ceramic furnaces really work and do they really use very little electric? Or, would we be better off using the natural gas heat. Piedmont natural gas told us that the average cost to use natural gas would be around 150 a month. So what do you all think which is better to use natural gas heat or Ceramic heaters for heating a home?

• Answer:You may save money but you will always have cold areas in the house so you’ll be trading off comfort. If you try to heat the whole house with many of these then you will have a pretty high electric bill and the house will still not be as warm. Choose the poison but I vote for comfort.

Question
I’m in the market for an electric heater to warm up my truck camper. I had
one of those little Pelonis disc furnace types many years back. That little
thing would heat up a room pretty good, and real quiet going about its
business too. I see all different types of heaters in Walmart ranging from
$17 to $80 or so. They don’t have the Pelonis ( can’t find it anywhere ) but
they do have a cube type for $18. Which ones are best for heating campers?
Any specific brands ?

Answers
I have a Pelonis, but I don’t consider it quiet, just one
fan speed.  I still have an old ribbon type that we used for
20 years, and although it is much bigger it is also much
quieter.  Lowe’s had Pelonis in the fall (like November),
but I haven’t looked recently.