Ore, limestone and carbon in the form of coke are put into the top of the blast furnace

in layers.
At the same time, hot air called "wind" is blown inside the furnace. Special nozzles called
"tuyeres" are used to put the air in the furnace. The nozzles are at the bottom of the furnace. This
process is called "blasting". It is why it is called a "blast furnace". The coke ignites (= lights into
fire) and burns. This creates carbon monoxide because there is not enough oxygen to make
carbon dioxide. The carbon monoxide then reduces the metal oxide to the metal and makes
carbon dioxide. This process is used to make iron. The limestone forms a substance called slag
with the rock of the iron ore.

The bottom part of the furnace is called the hearth. When it has filled with liquid pig iron and
slag, the slag is removed. This is called skimming. Slag is lighter than iron and does not mix with
iron. It floats on top of the iron. A hole is made in the hearth at the level of the slag with a special
drill. The liquid slag moves out through the hole into a container called slag pot. The iron is then
drained from the hearth. This is called tapping. A hole is made at the bottom and the liquid pig
iron comes out. It is either used directly for steelmaking, put into a special railway wagon called
torpedo car or made into molds. When all the pig iron has been removed, fire-resistant clay is
used to close the two holes. The clay becomes solid very quickly because of the high heat.

The pig iron contains some 4% of carbon and it would be too hard and too brittle to use. The
extra carbon must first be burned away. The pig iron is refined into steel by decarburizing (=
burning the extra carbon off) it. A modern method for decarburizing the pig iron and refining it
into steel is basic oxygen furnace. Historically there has been other methods as well, such as
Bessemer converter, open hearth furnace and puddling furnace.

The gases rise up and are collected on the top of the furnace. As the gas contains a lot of carbon
monoxide, it is a valuable fuel. The gas collected on the top of the blast furnace is called blast
furnace gas. It is then washed and dried and all solid particles such as soot or ore dust are
collected. The gas is then burned in special ovens called Cowper stoves or hot blast stoves into
carbon dioxide. The heat from burning the blast furnace gas is then used to pre-heat the blasting
air, "wind", which in turn is blasted into the blast furnace itself.

The slag is not waste. It can be used in various ways. It can be made into bricks and used for
construction, or it can be mixed with concrete. Concrete which contains blast furnace slag is
stronger than ordinary concrete and is almost pure white, where normal concrete is dirty grey.

A blast furnace can usually work for 10 to 20 years without stopping. This is called "campaign".