Lower shaft furnace Calbe (Saale)

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Ironworkers in the Calbe mining and ironworks combine (1953)

The low- shaft furnace in Calbe was an industrial plant for the extraction of pig iron from local ores ( siderite and hematite ) in connection with lignite high-temperature coke . The plant was supposed to cover a substantial part of the GDR's pig iron needs.

history

In 1950 the construction of the first low- shaft furnace began in Eisenwerk West near Calbe (Saale), where the process developed by a research collective under the direction of Kurt Säuberlich was tested. The plant started operations in 1951 (first pig iron tapping on October 15, 1951) under the name Eisenwerke West (EWW) ; it was the first system of its kind worldwide. The ore required came from the iron ore mines in Büchenberg , Braune Sumpf , Badeleben and the sulfur gravel mine in Elbingerode ; due to the low iron content of 20 to 25 percent, it could not be smelted in normal blast furnaces. In 1953 an industrial power plant was built to utilize the furnace gas . In 1959 the name was changed to VEB NOW Niederschachtofenwerk Calbe (Saale) . In 1964 the merger with the aforementioned iron ore mines took place under the name VEB BHK Bergbau- und Hüttenkombinat Calbe (Saale) .

In the years that followed, it was realized that the process would not be profitable in the future, despite further improvements in the low-shaft furnaces , because the smelting of the ores that were low in iron required too much high-temperature lignite coke. In addition, the 10 low-shaft ovens, each with a daily production of around 100 t, required a high level of labor, and there was no processing industry in Calbe. So the plant was finally shut down in 1970. The 2500 employees in Calbe and the 1000 workers in the ore mines were housed in newly created lightweight metal construction combines.

The premature opening of the work, but without lighting a stove, was discussed by Erik Neutsch in his novel "Der Friede im Osten", 2nd book, especially in part 2, 7th chapter.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German Federal Archives
  2. ^ Karl Eckart; The iron and steel industry; Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden, 1988; ISBN 3515021590
  3. ↑ blaues-band.de
  4. ↑ blaues-band.de
  5. ↑ blaues-band.de

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 55 ′ 23 "  N , 11 ° 48 ′ 27"  E