This channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-zwhDViy9pL4BaL8rrk7dA about "Making Steel in the U.S." is very interesting. Drone footage of Cleveland-Cliffs Steelworks (Ohio) sometimes at night. Amazing, but I doubt whether launching a drone over a commercial factory is allowed by law. The guy explains clearly how things work.
I worked in a steel mill for 17+ years. It was a mini mill and we only tapped 50 tons at a time, about one heat an hour. I like watching how the big boys do it. Some of them tap 250 tons at a time or maybe more.
Not much to see there with just drone footage. Episode 8, turning coal to coke. I was surprised to see them bottom drop the coal and then use a stir stick to knock the frozen coal out. Our local coal power plant has a tilt table that picks the car up and dumps it out. For frozen coal, the building holds three cars and massive infrared heaters thaw them out. The cars are unhooked and just roll along the inclined track. We toured the plant and it was impressive to see the whole operation.
Frozen coal ? You mean coal which is not completely coked which means that tars, etc. stick the partially coked coal together ? "Our local coal power plant has a tilt table that picks the car up and dumps it out." A coal power plant using coke, or making coke ? I thought they just use hard coal.
I should have said coal fired power plant. In the winter the coal is frozen in the car and they thaw it out to dump it. When they extract the coal from the ground it is sent to a preparation plant where it is washed and graded. Each customer specifies what type and size chunks they want. The power plant grinds it to talcum powder consistency and blows it into the furnace. It looks like a giant natural gas burner.
