Michael S (already5chosen.delete@this.yahoo.com) on January 27, 2017 7:22 am wrote:
> anon (anon.delete@this.anon.com) on January 27, 2017 3:29 am wrote:
> > Ireland (boh.delete@this.outlook.ie) on January 25, 2017 3:36 pm wrote:
> > > anon (anon.delete@this.anon.com) on January 25, 2017 3:27 pm wrote:
> > > > You can keep a coal furnace fed all the time.
> > >
> > > In theory, you absolutely can, which is why a lot of production processes
> > > end up with large furnaces designed to maximum efficiency and profit.
> >
> > In practice too. A coal furnace for steel making or power generation
> > may never run out of coal over its operational lifetime.
>
> Coal furnaces are not used in mass steel production for 150+ years.

I guess I can't complain about pedantry because I nitpicked this unimportant in the first place!

Coal is used "in" steel production of course. Input to most iron->steel conversion is liquid iron that was heated in a coal blast furnace. Iron ore -> steel production is an integrated line.

> When they were used long time ago, they were not operated continuously.
>
> May be, you mean pig iron production?
> Here, indeed, coal (coke, in fact) furnaces are operated continuously for very long periods - like
> many months. Still, it's much shorter than lifetime, which tends to be several tens of years.
>

Not because they run out of coal, of course.