: Limestone acts as a flux, combining with impurities like silica to form slag , which floats on the molten iron and is removed. 2. Primary Steelmaking
: This process primarily uses recycled steel scrap . High-power electric arcs melt the scrap, making it a highly efficient recycling method. 3. Secondary Steelmaking and Metallurgy Fundamentals of Steel Making
: In a Blast Furnace (BF) , these materials are heated. Coke acts as both a fuel and a reducing agent, removing oxygen from the iron ore to produce molten iron (or pig iron). : Limestone acts as a flux, combining with
: High-purity oxygen is blown onto molten iron (often with some scrap). This oxidizes the excess carbon (dropping it from ~4% to below 1%) and other impurities. High-power electric arcs melt the scrap, making it
This stage transforms molten iron or scrap into crude steel by reducing carbon content and removing further impurities.