Scrap iron

[oldagepensioner]

Just wondering if we could retrieve all the scrap metal just left to rot EG old steel framed buildings disused rail lines and scrap cars and all sorts of machinery how much difference could it make to the amount of iron ore we would have to dig out of the ground.There used to be a steel mill only a couple of miles from where i live that used to rely entirely on scrap for its metal ore.I know there is a lot of recycling already happening but how much more could we do?

[Eric Mc]

Recycling is big business these days. However, we export a lot of it rather than processing it here in the UK.

[Fastdruid]

oldagepensioner said:

Just wondering if we could retrieve all the scrap metal just left to rot EG old steel framed buildings disused rail lines and scrap cars and all sorts of machinery how much difference could it make to the amount of iron ore we would have to dig out of the ground.There used to be a steel mill only a couple of miles from where i live that used to rely entirely on scrap for its metal ore.I know there is a lot of recycling already happening but how much more could we do?

Iron is the 4th most abundant element, it's the easiest to recycle and most of it is already recycled. The reason that scrap iron is left to rust is that it's just not worth it. If it was then it would already have been recycled.

Fundamentally we'll almost certainly not run out of iron. What will happen is that lower grades of iron become economically viable. If the value of scrap steel/iron does go up then someone will go to the effort to retrieve and recycle it.

[sospan]

I was a metallurgist in the steel industry. We started with open hearth furnaces then changed to 150t electric arc. They were “cold charge” meaning mainly steel scrap plus cast iron, coal ( increase the carbon content at melted stage) to enable refining of carbon content plus alloying. Engineering steels. Selected alloy steel scrap would be added to increase mainly nickel, molybdenum content as these were expensive to add in fresh form. Port Talbot uses hot charge of iron from ore into a BOSS chamber that then gets blasted with oxygen to refine it. Mainly remove carbon to thin sheet specifications typically used in white goods, canning, car bodies etc.
Back then our smallish place made circa 500k tonnes a year of engineering/low alloy steels. Other companies specialised in different steel types from cheap to specialised grades.
Steel scrap business is a big one. It gets recycled not landfill.
Similar for aluminium and other metals. Electronic equipment with pcb’s is recycled for gold. Old school X-ray plates are a source of silver.