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The smelting of iron ore into metallic iron was first accomplished by primitive blast furnaces approximately three thousand years ago. Improvements in the process over many centuries eventually led to the mass production of iron and to the industrial revolution.
The reactions of the blast furnace involve 1) combustion of the fuel and its conversion into carbon monoxide, 2) reduction of the ore, and 3) formation of slag. A reaction such as FeO + CO = Fe + CO2 can occur in both the forward and backward direction under conditions existing somewhere in the blast furnace. To fully understand how the furnace accomplishes its goals we must study its processes form the perspective of chemical thermodynamics. Delta H, Delta S, and Delta G for each reaction are examined over a broad temperature range. These thermodynamic properties are interpreted on the molecular level and are then used to deduce the conditions necessary for the reactions to occur in their intended directions.
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