Starting from iron smelting

Lu Xiuyuan said to Liu Meng seriously: "What I am going to say next may subvert your cognition. You don't need to ask anything. Just write it down first. It will be useful." His tone was solemn and serious, as if he was imparting an important secret.

Liu Meng nodded, indicating that he would listen carefully to Lu Xiuyuan's instructions. He said, "I will remember it well."

Lu Xiuyuan continued, "We live in a material world. Everything in the world is made up of matter, including you and me. Matter in the world is made up of small things, which we call molecules and atoms. Matter like iron is made up of iron atoms." His tone was calm and clear, conveying the important information he knew word by word.

Liu Meng suddenly understood. He sighed and said, "Iron is made up of iron atoms, so wood is made up of wood atoms?"

Lu Xiuyuan shook his head, "No, no, there is no such thing as wooden atoms. Just listen first and I will continue." He knew that he needed to slowly guide Liu Meng to understand these concepts and not rush for success.

Lu Xiuyuan continued to explain: "However, wood is composed of lignin and cellulose, etc., which are composed of molecules and atoms, but not wood atoms." He tried to explain in simple language so that Liu Meng could better understand.

Liu Meng nodded to indicate that he understood, and then listened carefully to Lu Xiuyuan's continued explanation.

"Molecules and atoms are the basic units of matter. Different combinations of them form different substances," Lu Xiuyuan continued. "And the process of iron smelting is to change the molecular structure of iron to give it better performance and quality."

Liu Meng listened attentively, and finally realized that ironmaking is not simply heating iron ore, but involves changes in molecular structure and atomic level. This theoretical explanation made him understand ironmaking more deeply, and cherish this family craft more.

"Do you understand?" Lu Xiuyuan asked. He hoped that Liu Meng could truly understand these concepts.

Liu Meng looked at Lu Xiuyuan, his gratitude overflowing with words: "I see, I only knew the method of iron smelting before, but I never deeply understood the reason behind it. Thank you for your explanation, good brother."

Lu Xiuyuan smiled and waved his hand, "It's okay, it's okay, I'll continue talking, you continue to take notes."

Liu Meng nodded, indicating that he would continue to listen to Lu Xiuyuan's explanation. Lu Xiuyuan continued to explain in depth: "You see, we humans need to breathe every day. If a person stops breathing, he will die. Similar to humans, all things in the world need to breathe. Breathing is to absorb oxygen from the air. Of course, if we talk about it from the perspective of cultivation, it is to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, but today you have to listen to my explanation first."

Liu Meng listened attentively, concentrating on listening to Lu Xiuyuan's words. Lu Xiuyuan continued to explain: "Oxygen is involved in human life activities, but while participating in human life activities, oxygen will react with human body substances and release energy. This is respiration."

Liu Meng nodded to show his understanding, and then Lu Xiuyuan continued, "For metals, oxygen is the culprit. Rust and corrosion are all caused by the change in the metal's form after combining with oxygen in the air."

Lu Xiuyuan's explanation was easy to understand and made Liu Meng suddenly enlightened. He only knew the method of iron smelting before, but did not understand the chemical principles involved. Now after listening to Lu Xiuyuan's explanation, he suddenly understood and had a deeper understanding of iron smelting.

This exchange not only deepened Liu Meng's understanding of ironmaking, but also enhanced his friendship with Lu Xiuyuan. He firmly believed that under Lu Xiuyuan's guidance, he would be able to reach a higher level, not only making breakthroughs in ironmaking, but also making greater progress in his spiritual practice.

After listening to Lu Xiuyuan's explanation, Liu Meng suddenly understood, but he was still a little confused, so he asked, "What does this have to do with iron smelting?"

Lu Xiuyuan smiled and explained: "Iron smelting is a reverse process, which is to reduce the iron corroded by oxygen back to pure iron, or to extract the iron-containing substances in the iron oxide to make the iron content higher."

Liu Meng nodded, indicating that he understood, but he still felt that the process was somewhat magical, so he continued to ask: "Then how do these iron oxides or iron corroded by oxygen become pure iron or iron with a higher iron content?"

Lu Xiuyuan patiently explained: "This actually involves the process of chemical reaction and material transformation. In the iron-making process, a series of chemical reactions are used to remove the oxygen element from the iron oxide, or to decompose the oxygen-iron compound, thereby obtaining pure iron or iron with a higher iron content."

Liu Meng listened attentively. He had never imagined that iron smelting involved such complicated chemical principles. He couldn't help but marvel at the greatness of human wisdom.

Seeing Liu Meng's interest, Lu Xiuyuan continued to explain in detail: "In the process of ironmaking, we need to control the reaction conditions, such as temperature, pressure, and the selection of reducing agents, so as to achieve the ideal reaction effect. At the same time, we also need to finely process and treat the raw materials to ensure high-quality iron products."

Liu Meng listened attentively to Lu Xiuyuan's explanation, and was deeply impressed. He was amazed at the complexity and precision of iron smelting. This process, which was once a simple process in his mind, was now explained in a simple way by Lu Xiuyuan, showing infinite mysteries. In his ears, iron smelting is no longer just a simple heating and melting of iron ore, but a highly complex process full of chemical principles and technical requirements.

As Lu Xiuyuan explained in depth, Liu Meng's heart was filled with admiration for Lu Xiuyuan. He couldn't help but think of his previous misunderstanding of Lu Xiuyuan, thinking that he was just an ordinary blacksmith apprentice, but now it seems that Lu Xiuyuan's knowledge and insights are beyond his imagination. He sincerely thanked Lu Xiuyuan for his patient explanation and guidance, which made him realize the importance and complexity of the ironmaking industry.

Seeing that Liu Meng had a strong interest in the topic, Lu Xiuyuan was more determined to continue to explain in depth. He continued to explain the principles and processes of ironmaking to Liu Meng step by step in easy-to-understand language and combined with specific examples. He introduced the main raw materials and process flow of ironmaking in detail, allowing Liu Meng to have a deeper understanding and knowledge of this industry.

Lu Xiuyuan explained in a simple and clear way: "To be precise, ironmaking is the production process of reducing the iron oxide in iron ore into pig iron using a reducing agent at high temperature. The main raw materials for ironmaking include iron ore, coke, limestone and air. There are different types of iron ore, such as hematite (Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4), and their iron content varies. Before smelting, the iron ore needs to go through a series of processes such as beneficiation, crushing, grinding and sintering to improve its grade and purity before it can be sent to the blast furnace for smelting."

Liu Meng listened with great interest, and he had a clearer understanding of the entire process of iron smelting. He deeply sighed that iron smelting was such a complex and sophisticated industry, and the amount of knowledge and technology involved was amazing. Lu Xiuyuan paused and continued to explain the principles and process of iron smelting to Liu Meng in depth.

"The role of coal or coke is to provide heat and produce the reducing agent carbon monoxide," Lu Xiuyuan said in a rigorous and clear tone, "while limestone is used to make slag and remove gangue, so that the iron produced by smelting can be separated from impurities."

Liu Meng listened silently, feeling deeply moved. He had never thought that ironmaking was so complicated, involving so many chemical reactions and technical parameters. He sincerely admired Lu Xiuyuan's profound knowledge and patient explanation, and secretly decided to seriously study and understand the knowledge Lu Xiuyuan taught him.

"The main equipment for ironmaking is the blast furnace," Lu Xiuyuan continued to explain. "During the smelting process, iron ore, coke and limestone are added from the top of the furnace from top to bottom, and hot air is blown into the furnace from the air inlet from bottom to top. Under high temperature, the reactants fully contact and react to obtain iron."

Liu Meng listened with great interest, and gradually began to understand the whole process of blast furnace ironmaking. His eyes flashed with excitement and curiosity, and he was full of desire to explore this new field.

"Blast furnace ironmaking refers to the smelting of iron ore, coke, carbon monoxide, hydrogen and other fuels and flux into a blast furnace to remove impurities and obtain metallic iron. What you get at this time is pig iron. To get steel, other operations must be performed." Lu Xiuyuan's words were clear and organized, allowing Liu Meng to have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the iron-making process.

Liu Meng was immersed in Lu Xiuyuan's explanation, and various images and scenes emerged in his mind, as if he was in a huge blast furnace. He secretly made up his mind to study and understand the knowledge taught by Lu Xiuyuan and become an excellent iron smelter.

After listening to this, Liu Meng said, "You are so amazing. You know all this. Although I don't know what you mean, I will work hard to study it."

Lu Xiuyuan said, it's normal, you don't need to understand the other things, just figure out how to use coal to make iron ore into iron. The principle of iron smelting is to reduce the iron oxide in iron ore into iron through high-temperature reduction reaction. Iron ore is a mineral containing iron, but it usually contains other impurities such as silicon, aluminum, calcium, magnesium and titanium. These impurities affect the quality and performance of iron, so they need to be removed from the ore.

The function of coal is to provide heat through combustion. Iron smelting requires high temperature. The melting point of iron is 1538°. You may not have any idea about this. Let me tell you that under standard atmospheric pressure, the boiling point of water is 100°, or you just remember that the boiling point of water is 100°. You will have a general impression. Secondly, incomplete combustion produces carbon monoxide.

Lu Xiuyuan paused, realizing that he needed to explain the difference between carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide more vividly so that Liu Meng could understand it more easily. "For example, if we light a fire in a confined space, the room will become very stuffy. It's hard to breathe, and this is because the carbon dioxide content has increased. But if we turn down the air inlet of the stove and let the stove suffocate, as time goes by, the people in the room will feel dizzy, nauseous, and have a rapid heartbeat, and finally they will faint like being drunk, and some will even die directly." Lu Xiuyuan said.

When Liu Meng heard what Lu Xiuyuan said, he nodded and said, "I know about this situation."

After seeing that Liu Meng understood, Lu Xiuyuan continued: "Carbon monoxide can react with air to produce carbon dioxide, and the reaction method is ignition, so carbon monoxide is combustible. Note that there is no carbon trioxide or carbon tetroxide, only carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide." Liu Meng nodded in confusion.

Lu Xiuyuan continued, "Okay, let's use another analogy." Lu Xiuyuan decided to use an example from real life to explain, "You can compare carbon monoxide to a 'wolf', and carbon dioxide to a 'sheep'."

"'Wolf' and 'sheep' are both living animals, but their natures are very different. 'Wolf' is a ferocious predator that represents danger and poison, just like carbon monoxide, which is poisonous and deadly."

"On the contrary, 'sheep' is a docile herbivorous animal that represents safety and harmlessness, just like carbon dioxide, which is also a gas but harmless to the human body."

"So, while we are making iron, we need to handle carbon monoxide carefully, like guarding against wolves, while carbon dioxide can be safely released into the atmosphere, like releasing sheep back into the pasture."

"Okay, first let's talk about the difference between carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide." Lu Xiuyuan began, "Carbon monoxide is a compound composed of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom. It is a colorless, tasteless, and odorless gas, but it is very toxic and a deadly poison gas."

Liu Meng listened attentively, his eyes revealing a desire for new knowledge.

"Carbon dioxide is a compound composed of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. It is a colorless, tasteless, and odorless gas. It is an important component in the atmosphere and one of the raw materials for plants to carry out photosynthesis."

"Oh, that's how it is." Liu Meng suddenly realized, "Carbon monoxide is poisonous, but carbon dioxide is harmless to the human body."

"Yes, that's right." Lu Xiuyuan nodded. "In the iron-making process, the main function of coal or coke is to provide heat, so that the iron ore can be melted at high temperature and produce the reducing agent carbon monoxide, which reduces the iron oxide in the iron ore into iron."

Liu Meng was fascinated by what he heard. He immediately understood Lu Xiuyuan's metaphor and felt that this vivid metaphor could help him remember and understand better.

"I see!" Liu Meng said happily, "Thank you for your explanation, brother. Now I have a clearer understanding of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide."

Lu Xiuyuan smiled and nodded, "No problem, brother, remembering these basic knowledge will be very helpful for your future study and work."

Liu Meng digested this knowledge with difficulty, and finally raised a question: how to control combustion during iron smelting so that carbon can produce carbon monoxide to react with iron?