Future of the blast furnace
Blast furnace - Design and technology

Between 1965 and 1976 [2], the internal volume of the largest units commissioned rose from 2,000 to 5,000 m³ (HF2 at Oïta and HF3 at Kashima); all blast furnaces commissioned since then, with the exception of HF5 at Tcherepovetz in the USSR (5,580 m³), have an internal volume of less than 4,800 m³ (4,350 m³ on average for those over 4,000). There has therefore been an undeniable slowdown in the development of blast furnace dimensions, and this leads us to believe that further growth is unlikely; the reasons for this are less technological than cyclical and organizational (due to the lack of operating flexibility of a hypergiant blast furnace). Beyond the foreseeable future, some...