Ok as far as I can tell, the Bessemer process works by pumping air through raw iron that has been rendered molten through a previous process and poured it. Various impurities react with oxygen to form slag, and even more additives like Manganese and more carbon is added.
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1. Does the initial burst of air before the additives remove *all* carbon in the form of carbom monoxide, or is it just *some* carbon and turns all impurities into slag?
2. Air is blown in through pipes on the bottom of the Bessemer process. Why aren’t these pipes getting jammed by the molten metal?
3. How is the slag removed from the Bessemer furnace?
In: Engineering
1. Nearly all the carbon is burnt off. I gather it’s pretty exciting to see. The point is to reduce the level from that of cast iron to close to that of wrought iron. Steel is two percent carbon, or thereabouts?
2. The air pressure is sufficient. I think they start off with something blocking the pipes, like a stopper in a bottle.
3. Poured off, after (I think) the steel is tapped.
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