Ironmaking 101 From Ore to Iron with Blast Furnaces
Iron is mainly extracted from hematite (Fe 2 O 3) and magnetite ores. Natural or direct shipping iron ores contain between 5070% iron and can be fed directly into the blast furnace. Fe 3 O 4 decomposes when heated to ferrous oxide (FeO) and ferric oxide (Fe 2 O 3) via Fe 3 O 4 → FeO + Fe 2 O 3. A specialized type of coal, called hard coal ...