A furnace is a device used for high-temperature heating. The name derives from Greek word fornax, which means oven. In American English and Canadian English usage, the term furnace on its own refers to the household heating systems based on a central furnace (known either as a boiler, or a heater in British English), and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the production of ceramics. In British English, a furnace is an industrial furnace used for many things, such as the extraction of metal from ore (smelting) or in oil refineries and other chemical plants, for example as the heat source for fractional distillation columns. The term furnace can also refer to a direct fired heater, used in boiler applications in chemical industries or for providing heat to chemical reactions for processes like cracking, and is part of the standard English names for many metallurgical furnaces worldwide. The heat energy to fuel a furnace may be supplied directly by fuel combustion, by electricity such as the electric arc furnace, or through induction heating in induction furnaces.

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