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Sodium and, mainly, potassium cyanides are formed in the blast region of the blast furnace by reaction with coke and nitrogen in the air blast and are carried up into the shaft where they condense on the cooler burden. As the burden containing the condensed cyanides descends the alkali cyanides are oxidised to alkali metal carbonates and these undergo further conversion to cyanides by reaction with nitrogen in the blast. These are again driven up the stack, followed by condensation and a repeat of the cycle. This process leads to the cycling and build-up of alkali metals in the BF
Since the alkalis...