ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Hot blast

Hot blast is like blowing warm air into a fire to help it burn hotter and brighter. Think about when you blow on a candle flame to make it bigger, you are essentially giving the fire more oxygen, which makes it burn better.

In the same way, hot blast is when air, usually made warm using heat from furnaces or stoves, is blown into a furnace or smelter, to make the fire really hot. The hot air is blown in through pipes that are located at the bottom of the furnace, where the fuel (like coal or coke) is burnt.

When the air is heated up, it can make the furnace hotter, which helps the metal melt down faster. This makes it easier to extract pure metals from the ores that are being heated up, and also helps to reduce the amount of fuel needed to run the furnace.

Hot blast is an important process in the metal and steel production industry as it has major benefits in terms of cost savings and efficiency.