Growth in scrap steel recycling makes accurate understanding of composition essential
The Institute provides assay melting services to metal recycling companies. Assay melting is a crucial process in metallurgy for determining the composition and quality of steel.
As reported by UK Steel¹, rising global demand for steel coupled with steelmakers transitioning to lower carbon production methods will drive up demand for scrap in the coming decades; this makes understanding and the accurate composition of scrap metals to enable them to be recycled and re-used even more important.
The scrap metal processing sector needs an accurate understanding of the composition of steels that it recycles and we are supporting the sector by using our Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) to carry out accurate bulk assay melting at up to 6 tonnes scale of recycled scrap material. This, combined with materials and chemical analysis in our Advanced Materials Characterisation Centre, ensures we can give an accurate bulk chemical analysis and ferrous composition. This information is vital in the circular economy for the scrap industry who are recycling metal and the industrial end users who use scrap steel as a valuable raw material.
¹Steel Scrap: A strategic raw material for net zero steel
24 July 2024
