Kobe Steel, Ltd.

Korehito Kadoguchi

Hiroshi Sugitatsu

Hideaki Fujimoto

Kiminori Hajika

An iron melting furnace has a refractory lined furnace body having a top opening through which raw materials including a raw material iron source, a carbonaceous material and a slag forming material may be introduced. A heating system is provided for injecting oxygen-containing gas into the furnace body to combust the carbonaceous material, whereby combustion heat can melt the raw material iron source to generate molten iron and molten slag to form a molten iron and slag bath. A plurality of tap holes penetrate the furnace body and are provided at positions different from one another in a height direction of the furnace body, and a refractory filling which is different from the refractory liner material fills at least one of the tap holes such that molten iron or slag in the furnace is unable to flow through the tap hole being filled with the refractory material.

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Kobe, Japan

Korehito Kadoguchi