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Re:Iron, How Did They Make It, Part III: Hammer-Time by baybal2 on Saturday October 03, 2020 @03:43AM (#24670345)
O people, look how hard it was in ancient times!

Hail the blast furnace!

Re:Iron, How Did They Make It, Part III: Hammer-Time by pfdietz on Saturday October 03, 2020 @05:43AM (#24670849)
And all the versions of how you get the excess carbon out of that pig iron.

But even today, about 8% of global iron production is by direct reduction. As coal use is phased out, this will rise, and eventually all iron will again be produced without blast furnaces, possibly using "green" hydrogen as the reducing agent.