pig iron

(noun)

The intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel.

Related Terms

Examples of pig iron in the following topics:

  • Steelmaking and Refining

    • Basic oxygen steelmaking is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron (the iron created in the blast furnace) is made into steel.
    • Blowing oxygen through molten pig iron lowers the carbon content of the alloy and changes it into low-carbon steel.
    • The product of the blast furnace is pig iron, which contains 4-5 percent carbon and usually some silicon.
    • For the gray pig iron to be usable, a preliminary refining process was developed to remove the silicon.
    • The pig iron was melted in a running-out furnace and then run out into a trough.

  • Carnegie and the Steel Industry

    • Carnegie made his fortune in the steel industry, controlling the most extensive integrated iron and steel operations ever owned by an individual in the United States.
    • Sir Henry Bessemer had invented the furnace which allowed the high carbon content of pig iron to be burnt away in a controlled and rapid way.
    • In the late 1880s, Carnegie Steel was the largest manufacturer of pig iron, steel rails, and coke in the world, with a capacity to produce approximately 2,000 tons of pig metal per day.
    • In 1888, Carnegie bought the rival Homestead Steel Works, which included an extensive plant served by tributary coal and iron fields, a 425-mile long railway, and a line of lake steamships.
    • Edgar Thomson Steel Works, (named for John Edgar Thomson, Carnegie's former boss and president of the Pennsylvania Railroad), Pittsburgh Bessemer Steel Works, the Lucy Furnaces, the Union Iron Mills, the Union Mill (Wilson, Walker & County), the Keystone Bridge Works, the Hartman Steel Works, the Frick Coke Company, and the Scotia ore mines.

  • The Economy of the Middle Colonies

    • The colony also became a major producer of pig iron and its products, including the Pennsylvania long rifle and the Conestoga wagon.

  • The Second Industrial Revolution

    • A synergy between iron and steel, and railroads and coal developed at the beginning of the Second Industrial Revolution.
    • Air blown through holes in the converter bottom creates a violent reaction in the molten pig iron that oxidizes the excess carbon, converting the pig iron to pure iron or steel, depending on the residual carbon.

  • Iron

    • Unlike many other metals which form passivating oxide layers, iron oxides occupy more volume than iron metal.
    • Crude iron metal is produced in blast furnaces where ore is reduced by coke to pig iron, which has a high carbon content.
    • The iron compounds produced on the largest scale in industry are iron(II) sulfate (FeSO4ยท7H2O) and iron(III) chloride (FeCl3).
    • Iron(II) compounds tend to be oxidized to iron(III) compounds in the air.
    • Iron reacts with oxygen in the air to form various oxide and hydroxide compounds; the most common are iron(II,III) oxide (Fe3O4) and iron (III) oxide (Fe2O3).

  • Questioning Vignette

    • Clark reads the story "The Three Little Pigs".
    • "Why did that pig do that?"
    • Which type of little pig would I be?
    • The Three Little Pigs?.
    • One pig is asking a fact question: ?

  • The Iron Cycle

    • Iron (Fe) follows a geochemical cycle like many other nutrients.
    • The Terrestrial Iron Cycle: In terrestrial ecosystems, plants first absorb iron through their roots from the soil.
    • Iron is required to produce chlorophyl, and plants require sufficient iron to perform photosynthesis.
    • Animals acquire iron when they consume plants, and iron is utilized by vertebrates in hemoglobin, the oxygen-binding protein found in red blood cells.
    • The Marine Iron Cycle: The oceanic iron cycle is similar to the terrestrial iron cycle, except that the primary producers that absorb iron are typically phytoplankton or cyanobacteria.

  • Changes to Iron Production

  • Iron Oxidation

    • Ferric iron is an anaerobic terminal electron acceptor, with the final enzyme a ferric iron reductase.
    • Since some ferric iron-reducing bacteria (e.g.
    • Ferrous iron is a soluble form of iron that is stable at extremely low pHs or under anaerobic conditions.
    • There are three distinct types of ferrous iron-oxidizing microbes.
    • Outline the purpose of iron oxidation and the three types of ferrous iron-oxidizing microbes (acidophiles, microaerophiles and anaerobic photosynthetic bacteria)

  • Iron Overload and Tissue Damage

    • Iron overload, also known as hemochromatosis, is an accumulation of iron in the body and can lead to tissue and organ damage.
    • Thus, many methods of iron storage have developed.
    • In medicine, iron overload indicates accumulation of iron in the body from any cause.
    • Once iron and other markers are within the normal range, phlebotomies may be scheduled every other month or every three months depending upon the patient's rate of iron loading.
    • Discuss the causes of iron overload and the resulting tissue damage