NOVELTY - The sustainable joint smelting and energy producing process involves using wood as the only fuel, reducing agent and carburizing agent. All the woods used are put inside the blast furnace. Various additional plant facilities may be included, such as for example a steel mill or a wood drying plant, that use partially or totally the surplus energy from the smelting plant. The excess energy produced is an indirect function of the percent fixed carbon content of the dry wood.    USE - Sustainable joint smelting and energy producing process for co-generation of pig iron and electric energy in a blast furnace installation in which dried wood replaces charcoal as fuel, as reducing and carburizing agent.    ADVANTAGE - Enables to add value to iron ore and convert it to pig iron in countries that do not possess coal mines and have low availability of electric energy. Minimizes pollution and enables generation of energy in excess of what is required to operate the blast furnace equipment since dry wood, instead of charcoal, is a better fuel for a blast furnace operation, energy generated by burning dry wood inside the blast furnace is recuperated and not lost as in the traditional charcoal manufacturing process, and energy from the combustion of wood volatiles may be transformed into electric energy, the amount of which is in indirect proportion of the Fixed Carbon content of the wood (the higher the Fixed Carbon, the lower the amount of energy produced). Wood consumption per ton of pig iron produced is lower using heat treated wood as fuel than the amount of wood consumed in the traditional independent charcoal process since it is consumed dry inside the furnace with minimum mass loss. The quality of pig iron produced is improved since the fuel, reducing agent and carburizing agent are basically a constant. Water may be recuperated from the moist hot air as it exits the wood drying station, thus diminishing the use of fresh water for the process. The material efficiency or total yield of the system is increased due to minimum material losses. There are no carbon losses since the carbonization process occurs inside the blast furnace and there are no carbon emissions that pollute the air, the grounds and eventually, the water. Atmospheric contamination is reduced to a minimum since practically all emissions are contained inside the furnace and can be managed at will. Atmospheric and ground contamination (and eventually, water contamination) caused by transportation is reduced by avoiding the production and handling of charcoal. A clean environment reduces health hazards and improves the quality of life of workers and of the surrounding community. Increases efficiency of the combustion chamber and the steam generator by using dry gases generated by the combustion of dry wood. Generation of own electric energy reduces the need for purchased power that may be another source of contamination. Economic performance of the system is improved by lower cost of blast furnace fuel (dry wood versus charcoal), constant quality of pig iron produced resulting from burning a unique source of fuel (one or two similar wood species), decrease in inventory and administrative costs related to purchase of wood from little sources versus purchase of charcoal from hundreds of small producers, generation of electric energy for own consumption and substitution of purchased energy and/or eventual income resulting from the sale of excess energy to the local power company, improved yield of new integrated process, recuperation of water evaporated in drying of wood, reduction in cost of pollution equipment and control systems, potential sale of ground slag to cement industry, and generation and sale of Certified Emissions Reduction (CER's).    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is also included for a co-generation plant, or a smelting only plant.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The drawing shows the flow diagram of operation of the sustainable joint smelting and energy producing process.