Gruner, Emmanuel Louis

Born in the small Swiss city ​​of Ittigen in the canton of Bern , in a large family in which there were six children. Louis was the fourth child. His father was a shopkeeper.

He studied at the University of Geneva for two years, but left it in 1827. In 1828 he went to Paris, where he entered the Polytechnic School . Since 1830 he studied at the Paris School of Mines .

After traveling to Germany and Europe, Gruner settled in Saint-Etienne in 1834, which was then one of France's most important coal mining centers. Gruner carried out important exploration work of coal deposits in the Loire Department, the results of which were subsequently highlighted in his book "Geological and Mineralogical Description of the Loire Department."

From 1835 to 1847 he taught at the Higher Mountain School of Saint-Etienne ( French École nationale supérieure des mines de Saint-Étienne ). Since 1847 he worked as an engineer of the mining department in Poitiers . In the Department of Croesus, he conducted studies similar to those that he made in the Loire.

In 1852 he returned to Saint-Etienne, where he was appointed director of the Mining School. He held this position until 1858.

In 1853, he described a mineral, which was later named in his honor - grunerite .

From 1858 to 1872 he worked at the Department of Metallurgy of the Mining School of Paris. Gruner later held various important positions until his retirement in 1879.

Grüner conducted exploration work for coal deposits in the departments of Loire and Croesus .

Gruner was engaged in research of iron reduction processes in a blast furnace . In 1872-1877, he published the results of calculations in which he first considered the question of the influence of direct (due to carbon coke ) and indirect (due to carbon gas CO) reduction of iron oxides in a blast furnace on the specific consumption of coke in the smelting of cast iron. ^[4] He made recommendations on reducing the specific consumption of coke for smelting pig iron. Considering that direct reduction occurs with a high heat consumption, and when gases are reduced by heat, the absorption of heat is small or even heat is generated, Grüner came to the conclusion that the reduction of iron oxides in a blast furnace should, as far as possible, occur only indirectly. Gruner called such a course of a blast furnace, when direct reduction is completely eliminated and all iron completely restored only with the help of carbon monoxide, “ideal”, considering that it will produce the lowest fuel consumption, that is, the furnace will work more economically. Being the author of a number of works devoted to the theory of the blast furnace process, Gruner had great authority and popularity among metallurgists, therefore, the position put forward by him on the ideal operation of a blast furnace was accepted by metallurgists without any criticism, and Gruner theory was universally recognized for a long time. Several decades passed before the idea of ​​the fallacy of this principle was expressed and proved.

Grüner was the author of textbooks on metallurgy, among his research was the book "The Current State of Iron Metallurgy in England" (1862).

• Description géologique et minéralogique du département de la Loire. - Paris: Imprimerie impériale, 1857.
• Cours de métallurgie: hotel première année: cuivre, plomb,, or, mercure, antimoine, zinc. - Hédin, 1859.
• The Manufacture of Steel. New York: D. Van Nostrand. - 1872. Translation into English. Also - [1] .
• Louis Emmanuel Gruner, M. Lan. État présent de la métallurgie du fer en Angleterre. - Paris: Dunod, 1862. Also - [2] .
• Louis Emmanuel Gruner, C. Roswag. Chimie inorganique: Applications. (Hotel première section.) IIe fascicule: Métallurgie .-- A. Généralités .-- 4e cahier: Cuivre. - Dunod, 1884.
• Étude sur les bassins houillers de la Creuse. - Paris, 1868.
• Traité de métallurgie: Agents et appareils métallurgiques. Principes de la combustion. - Dunod, 1875.
• Traité de métallurgie: pt. 1. Procédés métallurgiques. Chauffage et fusion. Grillage, et affinage réduction. Texte - Dunod, 1878.
• Études sur les hauts-fourneaux: suivies d'une notice sur les appareils à air chaud. - Dunod, 1873.

• Emmanuel-Louis Grunel.
• Le savoir ... fer: glossaire du haut fourneau , novembre 2003, publié par l'association le savoir ... fer ISBN 2-9520787-0-X
• Arthur JBT É. Lodin, notice nécrologique sur LE Gruner inspecteur général des mines. Annales des mines, Template: 8e , Template: Vol. 13, 1888, lire en ligne
• P. Roth, Grunerite, in Minerals first discovered in Switzerland and minerals named after Swiss individuals, Achberg, Germania, Kristallografik Verlag, 2007, pp. 182-183.
• M. Lodin, Notice nécrologique sur LE Gruner inspecteur genéral des mines, in Annales des mines, vol. 13, nº 8, 1888.