Granulated Iron Sheets

From time to time the supply of hotel metal from a blast furnace may exceed the demands of the steel plant, for example due to problems further downstream. In most integrated steel mills, the blast furnace plants are not equipped with pig casters, meaning that the excess hot metal has to be cast into an open air sand pit, a process known as “pooling” or “beaching.” The ensuing dust and fumes constitute an environmental hazard and the resultant pool or beach iron takes a long time to solidify before it can be crushed into usable material.