IJmuiden blast furnace blow-out

definitely NOT normal blast furance behaviour

[@rayp450]

Former Blast Furnace Shift Manager here.What your seeing is the dirty gas bleeder opening to relieve pressure. We had three bleeders, two dirties and one clean gas bleeder. They are safety devices so that when the top pressure exceeds the set point they open to protect the furnace and the gas cleaning system. This can happen for a few different reasons, but the most common is the burden inside the furnace stopped moving down. We called it "hanging". The blast pressure where the wind enters the furnace is higher then the top pressure, and when the furnace "slips off" or the burden falls the higher pressure shoots up to the top and exceeds the set point and the top opens. It also brings high temperature with it and sometimes hot coke will be ejected too. Not a normal condition or event. What you do then is relieve blast pressure by slowing down the turbo supplying the cold blast air and opening a cold blast relief valve into the atmosphere. The reduce pressure will allow the bleeders to close.

[@spidos1000]

+Ray P is it similar to when a coal fire burns for ages and suddenly the whole structure of the coal just collapses due to it all being used up and you hear a pop? Obviously on a larger scale though?

[@rayp450]

+JimBeam I never thought of it like that but yes it is similar in theory. You have it happen on a smaller scale all the time without the bleeders opening and there isn't a "pop" because the bleeders didn't exceed the pressure set point to open. But when it does exceed and it or they when it exceeds both bleeders set points it's more of a roar then a pop sound.

[@spidos1000]

Ray P Ah ok! I worked in water treatment at a steel plant in South Wales for five years. Always enjoyed the roar of the blast furnaces!

[@pranjalgurung9030]

Which plant??

[@rayp450]

@@pranjalgurung9030 Cleveland, Ohio USA. I worked on five different furnaces there.

[@danieldimiduk2988]

This was a common sight in Pittsburgh area in the early 1970's. Several things can cause overpressure. In that time period, raw ore containing too much silica was experimented with. It had a bad habit of hanging up and slipping. When the smaller furnaces slipped it was scary. When Dorothy #6 slipped, the ground shook and fire out the top was as tall as the 300ft. furnace. My Cousin ran that furnace and It was just a few hundred yards from Grandma's house. We had to sweep the ore dust from the porches after.

[@MarnixRoels]

daniel dimiduk then you could sell the ore fines back to the steel company ! 😸

[@hughezzell10000]

I like the name Dorothy - applicable to a blast furnace

[@billymanilli]

The iron workers weren't exactly having a blast on that day...

[@mephInc]

Top pressure can usually be controlled long before the bleeders open, and if needed the "clean gas bleeder" can be opened up first. In order for those to open up there was most definately a hydrogen spike. Wether it be from burden water sprays sticking open or too much moisture in the material itself. Either way, when this happens, it is NOT normal and very scary. Last time the furnace I work at had this happen, the entire top structure over the bleeders melted down to goo.

[@MarnixRoels]

@Kim- sorry but it's nothing to do with cleaning the furnace. Sometimes the charge in the furnace forms a bridge which sticks with gas build-up behind it. Then the charge drops and in a normal bleeder pop you hear a loud screaming noise and a big dust cloud dispersing from the top of the furnace. In this case there must have been a spark that set the gas on fire. When the flame goes out someone has shut the top of the furnace so that the gas ducts and peripheral equipment don't damaged in the fire.

[@MarnixRoels]

this definitely isn't normal blast furnace behaviour, although it's not totally uncommon it was explained to me as the burden forming a bridge in the furnace which prevents the gas from escaping, and when the bridge all of a sudden collapses then you get a big release of gas

[@jims6323]

What.......didn't ya ever light one?

[@strongbowism]

Impressive site when the Burden slips inside the Furnace and the bleeders open up letting the fireworks out. I worked for BSC/Corus at Llanwern in the heavy end and when it slipped you could feel the rumble and the noise was epic, just awesome power...

[@baileys60]

After a detailed examination of the footage my conclusion of the resulting event can only be determind by considering all the characterisitcs available. It fucked up and blasted out not in.

[@newcars11]

Seen this at Zug Island. It condenses, then the soot falls, warm black rain. Feels good and then your covered with soot, not good.

[@oceans204]

Not common but as the lining of the furnace gets thin, it makes places where the burden can hang and then slip as mentioned below but it becomes more common when the end of the furnace lining campaign gets toward the end, it happens more. I am retired contract supervisor that installed refractory linings.

[@toddburgess6792]

After reading comments, would the title of this video be better as, "A Burden of Poof"?

[@dlabby2002]

That's a sight! Could anyone please explain what's happening?

[@davidmunro1134]

When large machines fart? HA HA HA.

[@johnzelvis3539]

Most of you are partially correct - not normal but definitely uncommon. That IS co not co2 blast furnaces produce co - co2 is what you get after co is burnt - any number of causes for this top blow

[@RotaryMarx]

Gekke zooi!

[@jrock4086]

Every morning after chipotle

[@bartomiejesz4765]

This is why blust furnaces are relighting at night

[@bulgingbattery2050]

Stack as much hazard resistance as you can.

[@iloveRUSSIAAA]

How long did it take to repair the structure?

[@porkins_jr719]

They're still trying to repair it!

[@MarnixRoels]

not exactly sure - you always get quite a flow of air going through a blast furnace, but it's supposed to have burnt all of the CO to CO2 by the time it leaves at the top maybe a spark while charging may have ignited something ?

[@jM-qn9gw]

Ataque coisa nenhuma. Esse fogo aí é absolutamente normal quando há excesso de gás na torre. Ninguém deve se preocupar.

[@lupo0144]

This also happened in TATA Port Talbot last week!!!!!

[@lupo0144]

+Evil Edna it will be... The way things are going it won't be there by Christmas I think....

[@shauncorless8965]

There goes another ice cap😢

[@kimsands7989]

this is the cleaning process of a blast furnace

[@sidneyrayonez9265]

omg its semint

[@williammarshall191]

taco Bell to the rescue!

[@madhatter217]

2 words, anti climax.

[@Foxxorz]

An iron fueled rocket motor.

[@alexandermathar7780]

Basically it is a solid rocket engine. The fuel is coal, the oxidator is iron oxide. Ok. There's an idea that culd really turn a blast furnace into a rocket. Load it with Pyrite ,Kalium chloride, coal , Manganese Dioxide. If that mixture reacts, manganese heptoxide could form and this is an extreme oxidator. Worth a try.

[@crawfs3]

normal? that's a serious water leak, either from cooling members (staves or plates) or top gas sprays. look up severstal in detroit. a very serious breakout that killed three people. you see at the end how that flame from the bleeders went out? that's someboday shutting the turbos down quick and seriously wrecking the furnace. better that than killing somebody.

[@coloradomountainman8659]

Wow. That sure had me on the edge of my seat. Not.