Cu evaporation kinetics in liquid steel

The use of ferrous scrap in the world continues to increase due to a number of reasons including depletion of high quality iron ore, and requirement of reduction of CO2 gas emission. However, tramp elements in ferrous scrap such as Cu hinder it from being used for source of wide range of steel grades, since they may cause harmful defects in the final products. Therefore, development of a new technology which is effective in removing the tramp elements or nullifying their harmful effects is essential to utilize ferrous scrap more widely. A number of technological attempts have been proposed for copper removal; namely, sulfide flux refining, vacuum distillation, low melting point bath, and chlorination. However, none of them has yet been fully successful for practical application because of various reasons including low efficiency, high cost and adverse effect on the environment.