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I am currently going through older photos in my collection and came across this one which is interesting for both what it shows and for what the company operating this machine does, so let me show it to you despite of its rather poor technical quality.

What it shows: One of two furnaces of the DK Recycling und Roheisen GmbH blast furnaces plant. In contrast to most other blast furnaces still operating, these are very small ones: the combustion chamber ends right above the double bend in the long tube you see in the center. What makes them special is the way they get charged. While most modern furnaces get charged via skip inclines, this plant features basket charging (Kübelbegichtung). The big box top left is a crane lifting burden baskets vertically, then travelling horizontally and emptying the burden through a funnel into the combustion chamber. The few other plants using this technique of limited capacity include the now derelict Maxhütte and the vintage Völklingen plant.

What the company does: Producing pigs (Roheisenmasseln) of a specific pearlite cast iron quality from metallic residue like filter dust. This is the only company I know of that has this kind of recycling know-how, that operates a pig-casting machine and that runs a smelter plant specifically to serve the casting industry.

RELATED ON THE WEB
In the past, DK recycled not only iron, but a wide variety of metal residues in a then much larger plant. Michael aus dem Spring has a large collection of historic photos.

RELATED ON THIS WEBLOG
2004-06-20: HKM Blast Furnace A