Iron oxide reduction in stages with varied gas streams

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR REDUCING FINELY DIVIDED IRON OXIDES, WHICH COMPRISES PARTLY REDUCING FE2O3 TO FEO IN AN INITIAL STAGE WITH HOT PARTLY SPENT REDUCING GAS FROM A SUBSEQUENTLY STAGE, PASSING A PORTION OF PARTLY REDUCED IRON OXIDES FROM THE INITIALS STAGE TO A SECOND STAGE, FURTHER REDUCING AND HEATING SAID PARTLY REDUCED IRON OXIDES IN THE SECOND STAGE WITH HOT REDUCING GAS CONTAINING CO AS THE PREDOMINANT REDUCING AGENT AT A HIGHER TEMPERATURE TO OBTAIN FEO OF INCREASES TEMPERATURE, PASSING THE THUS OBTAINED FEO FROM THE SECOND STAGE TO A THIRD STAGE IN WHICH IT IS REDUCED PARTLY TO FE BY CONTACT WITH A HOT REDUCING GAS PREDOMINANTLY HYDROCARBON, SUBSEQUENTLY REDUCING FEO IN A MIXTURE WITH FE WITHDRAWN FROM SAID THIRD STAGE IN A FINAL STAGE WITH REDUCING GAS PREDOMINANTLY HYDROGEN MIXED WITH GASEOUS HYDROCARBON.