Smelting Iron in Africa (A DEMONSTRATION)

It's actually pretty authentic - and the modern blast furnaces...... big electric forced air blast, pre heating the air etc.. and the greatest advance was only in the last 20 years or so - to pulverise the lime, the coke and the iron oxide, and them mix them and press them into 3" round balls so the incredients are intimately mixed and the hot air and the combustion process runs at a very high rate as the air blast runs between the balls... the use of the premixed briquets - sped the production of iron up by 20 or 30% on the throughput of blast furnaces... and that was only in the last 20 or 25 years... Where as adding 5 tones of coke, 1 ton of iron oxide and 2 tons of crushed limestone, in cycles like that, just made layers and lead to inefficient combustion, slow heats and constipation of the blast furnaces.... And if you notice, the OLD blast furnaces, were pretty fucking good, but the BIG secret, was the NON STOP air flow... And the people of Afrika - got that sorted out a long time ago.