blast furnace

noun

1. a large vertical furnace for smelting iron from ore, using coke as fuel: designed so as to direct a continuous blast of air through the fuel in order to obtain a high rate of combustion.

blast furnace

noun

1. a vertical cylindrical furnace for smelting iron, copper, lead, and tin ores. The ore, scrap, solid fuel, and slag-forming materials are fed through the top and a blast of preheated air is forced through the charge from the bottom. Metal and slag are run off from the base

Word History and Origins

Origin of blast furnace¹

First recorded in 1700–10

Example Sentences

He's one of about 2,000 Tata Steel employees who lost their jobs when the blast furnaces were shut down last year.

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Production ended 12 months ago with 2,000 workers made redundant after the company said its blast furnace operation was losing £1m a day.

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Talks on scrapping tariffs on UK steel are on hold, with US officials raising concerns over Tata's shift from blast furnaces to new electric arc furnaces, due in 2027.

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Traditionally, extracting that all-important iron from ores requires blast furnaces that run on fossil fuels.

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Ministers took control of British Steel in Scunthorpe in April after accusing the Chinese owners Jingye of trying to close down the site's blast furnaces.

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