Chemical engineering . spension of itsfunction of gas producer. To secure, within a reasonable degree of certainty, a con-tinuity of supply, no group of less than three blast furnacescan be considered as available to supply a power plant, whichis intend-d to produce power for the general market. M any group of furnaces at least one will at some time be out ofblast for relining, and at least one other furnace may bestopped for some one of the other reasons given above. Witha group of three blast furnaces, therefore, the surplus gas ofone will always be available. With groups of more than three,
Chemical engineering . spension of itsfunction of gas producer. To secure, within a reasonable degree of certainty, a con-tinuity of supply, no group of less than three blast furnacescan be considered as available to supply a power plant, whichis intend-d to produce power for the general market. M any group of furnaces at least one will at some time be out ofblast for relining, and at least one other furnace may bestopped for some one of the other reasons given above. Witha group of three blast furnaces, therefore, the surplus gas ofone will always be available. With groups of more than three, still greater securityagainst interruption would result, if we assume one furnaceout of blast and two temporarily stopped. The percentage ofsunilus gas actually available from any group of N furnacesmay be expressed by the formula,N-3 X 100 Nin which, if values of N from 4 to ii be substituted, thecurve shown in Fig. I will be obtained. For the special caseof a group of three furnaces, the surplus available becomes 33. Kumbcr of Blast F KIG. I.— . WITH N CM HERS OFBLAST FURNACES. per cent. To be even more conservative, two furnaces mightbe assumed as out of blast for relining at the same time, butwith a power plant dependent upon the blast furnace plant, re-pairs of this kind can be so timed that it will not be neces-sary to reline two furnaces at once. The value of a large number of units to obtain a given out-put of iron is very evident, if the development of a large per-centage of the surplus gas into power is to be made cost of construction and operation of a blast furnaceplant, made up of a number of small units, as compared withthe same items of expense for a plant of the same capacitymade up of large units, must bo more than balanced by theprofits which are to be realized from the operation of thelarger power plant. Further than this, the prices obtained forthe power must warrant the continuance in blast of all but on
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectmetallu, bookyear1902
