A steel-making process in which a jet of oxygen is delivered by a lance on to a molten mixture of pig iron and scrap steel in a retort lined with a basic refractory. Excess carbon is burnt away, producing enough heat to keep the iron molten, and the oxidized impurities are removed as gases or slag.
Example sentencesExamples
- More specifically, this invention is directed to a method for increasing the nitrogen content of steels made by the basic oxygen process.
- This gave way mid-century to the basic oxygen process, which used pure oxygen instead of air, cutting the process time from all day to just a few hours.
- Virtually all steel is now made in integrated steel plants using a version of the basic oxygen process or in specialty steel plants (mini-mills) using an electric arc furnace process.
- Among the primary steel melting processes are the electric arc furnace and the basic oxygen process.
- The basic oxygen process is the most common process for producing steel.