Arc Melting

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Just want to share something I came a cross on youtube.  They are metal arc furnace used melt metal in industrial scale.  Here is another one with close up shot of the arc in action.
Reply:asmThis is a pre-WWII technology.Thanks for acknowledge the past . . . Opus
Reply:Stick welding is also pre-WWII technology.  What's your point?
Reply:Originally Posted by asmStick welding is also pre-WWII technology.  What's your point?
Reply:Electric furnaces are still used in many facilities. Basically a giant air arc melting scrap.
Reply:Originally Posted by NinjaRay I wonder how much power goes into something like that .
Reply:Originally Posted by SuperArcThe first video says "80 mega watts."  That would be 80 million amps.  1 mega watt = 1 million amps.  I guess that's right because those big buckets are holding molten steel that's at least as thick as a normal single family house.   I bet they got that smelter from Harbor Freight.
Reply:Originally Posted by NinjaRayI didn't notice the 80MW,  I was hypnotized by the sparks
Reply:80 MW is 80 million Watts.  You then have to divide by the arc Volts to get Amps.The arc furnace was about the next application for the electric arc after the arc lamp, back in 1886."USMCPOP" First-born son: KIA  Iraq 1/26/05Syncrowave 250 w/ Coolmate 3Dialarc 250, Idealarc 250SP-175 +Firepower TIG 160S (gave the TA 161 STL to the son)Lincwelder AC180C (1952)Victor & Smith O/A torchesMiller spot welder
Reply:What happened in the first video at 1:39. It went from all peaceful like to.. well I probably would have started running out of that place! Was the furnace not actually processing till 1:39?
Reply:Originally Posted by SuperArcThe first video says "80 mega watts."  That would be 80 million amps.  1 mega watt = 1 million amps.
Reply:I think they switched the power setting from PREHEAT to LIQUEFY BULLDOZER."USMCPOP" First-born son: KIA  Iraq 1/26/05Syncrowave 250 w/ Coolmate 3Dialarc 250, Idealarc 250SP-175 +Firepower TIG 160S (gave the TA 161 STL to the son)Lincwelder AC180C (1952)Victor & Smith O/A torchesMiller spot welder
Reply:I don't think there is any blast furnaces left in north America?  Are there any?  I have only seen pictures of old operations... ten stories high approx.  Electric process furnaces are for melting scrap or melting pig iron and making steel.  I know all our coking coal in Western Canada goes offshore to blast furnaces in Asia.
Reply:As far as blast furnaces left in America there are at least 17 in full operation that use coke or coal injection. Most fully integrated steel mills are moving towards coal injection because the cost of making coke is becoming very expensive and restrictive.  Blast furnaces range from 10 stories tall for the small ones to 20-25 stories like Big Bertha located on the southern shore on Lake Michigan.