Basic oxygen steelmaking

Blowing oxygen through molten pig iron lowers the carbon content of the alloy and changes it into low-carbon steel.

The process is known as basic because fluxes of calcium oxide or dolomite, which are chemical bases, are added to promote the removal of impurities and protect the lining of the converter.

[2] The process was invented in 1948 by Swiss engineer Robert Durrer and commercialized in 1952–1953 by the Austrian steelmaking company VOEST and ÖAMG.

It was developed and refined by a single man, Swiss engineer Robert Durrer, and commercialized by two small steel companies in allied-occupied Austria, which had not yet recovered from the destruction of World War II.

[6] In the summer of 1948, Roll AG and two Austrian state-owned companies, VÖEST and ÖAMG, agreed to commercialize the Durrer process.

[8] They were put into operation in November 1952 (VÖEST in Linz) and May 1953 (ÖAMG, Donawitz)[8] and temporarily became the leading edge of the world's steelmaking, causing a surge in steel-related research.

[8] Errors by the VÖEST and the ÖAMG management in licensing their technology made control over its adoption in Japan impossible.

[7] In the original LD process, oxygen was blown over the top of the molten iron through the water-cooled nozzle of a vertical lance.

In the 1960s, steelmakers introduced bottom-blown converters and developed inert gas blowing for stirring the molten metal and removing phosphorus impurities.

[3] In the Soviet Union, some experimental production of steel using the process was done in 1934, but industrial use was hampered by lack of efficient technology to produce liquid oxygen.