Why is scrap steel used in Basic Oxygen process?
In the basic oxygen furnace high pressure oxygen is injected into the molten steel at high velocity. This burns of excess carbon in the form of CO2, and also other impurities ( sulphur for example) this process is exothermic and a large amount of heat energy is produced. This causes the temperature in the ladle to rise in excess of 1700°C. Therefore scrap steel is introduced into the molten carbon steel, and the heat generated is used to melt the scrap, keeping the temperature of the reaction under control.
