How is pig iron obtained& how is steel made?
Pig iron is obtained from iron ore (oxides of iron) by reducing it by carbon in Blast Furnace. But pure iron has very high melting temperature and highly prone to oxidation and as such other alloying elements i.e. carbon, silicon and manganese are added to it in the blast furnace to lower its melting point and increase the fluidity so that it can be cast in the form of pigs. Steel is produced by oxidizing some of the carbon and silicon from the liquid pig iron in a Basic Oxygen Furnace.
Pig iron is extracted from the iron ores like Fe2O3—the form of iron oxide found as the mineral hematite, and FeS2—pyrite and magnetite using a blast furnace to remove the lower melting impurities. Pig iron is then converted to steel using different processes such as Bessemer process or Siemens-Martin process which oxidises the still remaining impurities. However, majority of steel prodced today are recycled.
