Oxygen  [ Return towards  Gases  ]

• Iron & Steel making
Oxygen is widely used in the iron and steel industry in the EAF, blast furnace, BOF, AOD, VOD, and RH-OB. A recent development is its use in the gas-based production of Direct Reduced Iron. Oxygen is used for decarburisation and improving heating and refining efficiency. Applications range from the enrichment of hot blast injected into the blast furnace to injection in AOD process and the decarburisation of molten iron carried out in converters through top lances.

• Non ferrous metallurgy

One of the greatest advances in non-ferrous pyrometallurgy has resulted from the use of tonnage oxygen.

Oxygen is an oxidant ; it reacts with non ferrous sulphides concentrates, providing the chemical heat and accelerates melting. Oxygen is used for air enrichment ; it is injected into :

Circulating fluid bed roasters to treat carbonaceous gold ores
Zinc roasters and smelters to increase productivity
Cu/Ni smelters and converters to improve smelting rate and to remove sulphur and other metals which can be more easily oxidised than Cu/Ni
Oxygen is also used in the hydrometallurgy field, but in a lesser extend. Also, it is equally used for high pressure leaching in gold, nickel and zinc production process, gold cyanidation and iron precipitation from zinc leaching.