Operation
Process chemistry determines the optimum relationship between the fuel and the material, among other variables. The reverberatory furnace can be contrasted on the one hand with the blast furnace, in which fuel and material are mixed in a single chamber, and, on the other hand, with crucible, muffling, or retort furnaces, in which the subject material is isolated from the fuel and all of the products of combustion including gases and flying ash. It has been stated in some contexts that the reverberatory furnace also typically separates the material from the hot gases, but this does not seem to be the case in general. Indeed, some applications require contact between the material and the hot gas. There are, however, a great many furnace designs, and the terminology of metallurgy has not been very consistently defined, so it is difficult to categorically contradict the other view.
Read more about this topic: Reverberatory Furnace
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