The use of process oxygen in domestic ferrous metallurgy has been one of the most hotly debated issues over the last quarter of a century. In contrast to ferrous metallurgy in the industrially advanced nations of the West - where the extensive use of process oxygen naturally followed the introduction of the basic oxygen furnace (oxygen converter) for steelmaking - the first step taken in our country to increase the production of process oxygen was related to the operation of blast furnaces on a combination blast. Overall, the broad use of oxygen in domestic metallurgy was a consequence of a larger trend in the national economy which placed maximum emphasis on intensifying production operations in heavy industry. In connection with this, during the period 1960-1970 metallurgists developed high-rate processes based on the use of an oxygen-enriched blast and equipment needed to carry out these operations (oxygen sintering is an example of these processes, while burners for burning different types of fuel serve as one example of the above-mentioned equipment). Before this period, several metallurgical combines had had "excess" capacity for oxygen production, and it was suggested that the oxygen be used to speed up fuel combustion in power plants.
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