I spent most of the morning in a steel mill a few hours outside of Bangkok (Thailand: come for the beaches, stay for the heavy industry). By their nature, steel mills aren’t the cleanest places, but this one was better than most. Or, at least it seemed that way until thirty minutes ago, when I came across this image while doing an initial edit of my photos.
For those unfamiliar with these matters: to the left is a hot-rolling mill of the kind that makes steel coils. In the foreground is some of the excess material that’s been cut from the slabs heated in the mill, and left (to cool) for scrap. Keep in mind that the pretty layer of dust on everything has left me coughing, off and on, for the last nine hours or so. Actually, it wasn’t as obvious in person as it is in the photo. On the other hand, this photo doesn’t begin to convey the intense heat in the building (the furnace runs at 1200° C).
Bonus photo for Ultimate Factories fans … after the jump.
Ashot of the top of this particular mill’s 320 mt Electric Arc Furnace [EAF].
At the time of its installation in 1996, this was the largest EAF in Asia, and one of the three largest in the world. Today, this monster still ranks in the top ten in the world. A vision out of Arrakis.