Improved Blast Furnace

The Improved Blast Furnace is a multiblock furnace added by Immersive Engineering that alloys Iron with Coal Cokes to produce Steel. It is the upgraded tier of the Crude Blast Furnace, capable of automation and also of greater speeds once Blast Furnace Preheaters are added.

The Improved Blast Furnace has hatches to automatically export Steel and Slag into adjacent inventories. Coal Coke and Iron may be dropped into the top of the furnace. Steel leaves through the front, and Slag leaves through the back. The holes on either side are for adding the Blast Furnace Preheaters.

Construction
As an upgrade of the Crude Blast Furnace, the original Blast Bricks may be upgraded to Reinforced Blast Bricks by adding a Steel Plate.

The Improved Blast Furnace is created by assembling 27 Reinforced Blast Bricks in a 3x3 cube and placing a Hopper on the top-center block as illustrated. Using an Engineer's Hammer on the front face completes the structure.



The Improved Blast Furnace smelts Steel at the same speed as the Crude Blast Furnace. Adding a Blast Furnace Preheater to either side doubles and triples its speed, so each ingot will take 30 or 20 seconds to cook as opposed to the default 60 second craft time. The Preheaters require power to operate.

The following image illustrates a complete and semi-automated Improved Blast Furnace. A Dropping Conveyor Belt feeds iron and coke in. Chests in front of and behind the furnace accept steel and slag, and the powered Blast Furnace Preheaters speed up production.