Converting iron units into quality steel

AbstractThe demand for low residual iron sources to feed electric arc furnaces producing high end carbon steels can be met by DRI and pig iron quite straightforwardly. The need for steel recycling, energy savings, and lower greenhouse gas emissions requires, however, that the scrap resource be tapped even more effectively than is done today. The quantity of obsolete scrap should continue to increase, due to past economic activity and to an increased collecting rate, and the tools have been developed to ensure that the various materials and steels grades mixed in manufactured goods can be unmixed and segregated in such a way that a sustainable recycling can be maintained in the long term; this involves responsible management of the scrap resource, through compliance with quality standards, scrap pretreatment, scrap property measurement and control in steel shops, and the proper expression of the true needs of the steel industry in terms of tramp element purity.