Correct option is A
The correct answer is (a).
Introduction
In the metallurgical industry, specific plastic wastes can be injected into blast furnaces to act as reducing agents.
Since plastics are heavily composed of carbon and hydrogen, they effectively strip oxygen from iron ore during the smelting process, substituting for traditional coke or coal.
Information Booster
- The injection of waste plastics into blast furnaces is a form of feedstock or chemical recycling, contributing to a circular economy in heavy industry.
- In the high-temperature environment of a blast furnace, plastics rapidly decompose into carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen gas (H2).
- These gases (CO and H2) are powerful reducing agents that react with iron oxide ores (like hematite or magnetite) to yield pure molten iron.
- This process significantly reduces the reliance on metallurgical coke, thereby lowering the overall carbon footprint of steel production.
- Furthermore, it provides an ecological solution for mixed or contaminated plastic wastes that are otherwise unsuitable for mechanical recycling.
- This technology was pioneered by the German and Japanese steel industries in the 1990s as a response to strict landfill diversion mandates.
- Oxidising agents are substances that donate oxygen or accept electrons. Plastics, being hydrocarbons, do the exact opposite; they act as fuels and electron donors (reducers).
- Protecting agents are typically coatings or inhibitors used to prevent corrosion or degradation, which is entirely unrelated to the chemical reduction occurring inside a blast furnace.
- Infectious agents refer to biological pathogens (viruses, bacteria) and have absolutely no relevance to metallurgy or plastic recycling.
English
10 Questions
20 Marks
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