Electric arc furnace

An industrial furnace that melts metal using heat from electric arcs between graphite electrodes and the charge. It is widely used to make steel from scrap and direct-reduced iron.

Electric arc: An electrical discharge through a gas that produces intense heat and light. The discharge between the electrodes and charge supplies the furnace’s melting heat.
Steel scrap: Discarded steel products and manufacturing remnants collected for reuse as metallic feedstock. It is the principal charge material in many electric arc furnace operations.
Electric arc furnace steelmaking: Steel production in which an electric arc furnace melts scrap, direct-reduced iron, or other metallic feedstocks. This is the furnace’s defining industrial application.
Paul Héroult: A French scientist and industrialist who developed electric furnaces for steelmaking and aluminium production. His furnace designs helped establish the electric arc as a practical source of industrial heat.
Steel recycling: The recovery and reprocessing of steel products and scrap into new steel. Scrap recycling is a major material pathway enabled by electric arc furnace production.
Graphite electrode: A conductive rod made primarily of graphite that carries current into an electric arc furnace. Its tip sustains the arc, while the electrode is gradually consumed during operation.
Direct reduced iron: Iron produced by removing oxygen from ore in the solid state, without melting it in a blast furnace. It supplements or replaces scrap when steelmakers need more consistent metallic feedstock.
Mini-mill: A steel plant that typically melts scrap in an electric arc furnace and casts products for rolling. Its compact production route made electric arc furnaces central to regional steelmaking.
William Siemens: A German-born engineer and inventor who developed an early electric arc furnace in the nineteenth century. His experiments preceded the commercial electric steel furnaces that followed.
Carbon footprint of steelmaking: The greenhouse-gas emissions associated with producing steel, including energy and process emissions. Electric arc furnaces can reduce emissions relative to ore-based routes, depending on power and feedstocks.

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