Rotary hearth furnace

A rotary hearth furnace for heating an agglomerate comprising an iron-oxide containing material and a carbonaceous reducing material to produce a reduced iron, the rotary hearth furnace having a heating section and a non-heating section and comprising:

• a unit that supplies the agglomerate onto a hearth of the rotary hearth furnace;
• a unit that discharges a heated substance which has been heated in the rotary hearth furnace to the outside of the furnace;
• a unit that discharges an exhaust gas in the rotary hearth furnace to the outside of the furnace;
• and
• a unit that takes an outside air into the furnace,
• wherein:
• the unit that discharges the exhaust gas to the outside of the furnace is provided in the non-heating section;
• and
• the unit that takes an outside air into the furnace is provided in the non-heating section and on an upstream side in a flow direction of the exhaust gas from the unit that discharges the exhaust gas to the outside of the furnace.