"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 29 Apr 2015 08:29:06 +0100, "harryagain"
wrote:


"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
Mmm. You can do combustion without using air.

The classic is heating coal and metal oxide. What you get is pure CO2
and
metal.

Not using coal you don't.
Which is why coke is used.

Before coke became widely used, iron was smelted with anthracite. I'm
sure you'll admit that anthracite is a coal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracite_iron

Abandoned years ago.
The product was inferior due to sulphur content.