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cally the Bessemer process was a major advancement in the production of economical steel, but it has now been entirely replaced by other processes such as the basic oxygen furnace.

Molten steel is cast into large blocks called 'blooms'. During the casting process various methods are used, such as addition of aluminum, so that impurities in the steel float to the surface where they can be cut off the finished bloom.

Because of the energy cost and structural stress associated with heating and cooling a blast furnace, typically these primary steelmaking vessels will operate on a continuous production campaign of several years duration. Even during periods of low steel demand, it may not be feasible to let the blast furnace grow cold, though some adjustment of the production rate is possible.

Integrated mills are large facilities that are typically only economical to build in 2,000,000 ton per year annual capacity and up. Final products made by an integrated plant are usually large structural sections, heavy plate, strip, wire rod, railway rails, and occasionally long products such as bars and pipe.

A major environmental hazard associated with integrated steel mills is the pollution produced in the manufacture of coke, which is an essential intermediate product in the reduction of iron ore in a blast furnace.

Integrated mills may also adopt some of the processes used in mini-mills, such as arc furnaces and direct casting, to reduce production costs.

World integrated steel production capacity is at or close to world demand, so competition between suppliers results in only the most efficient producers remaining viable. However, due to the large employment of integrated plants, often governments will financially assist an obsolescent facility rather than take the risk of having thousands of workers thrown out of jobs.” (Available at Steel mill -https://posco-india.com/website/press-room/news/posco-board-meeting-in-india.htm POSCO Steel’s Fourth Quarter Executive Board Meeting in India New Delhi, October 18, 2007[Accessed 02 January 2013])

Minimill

A minimill is traditionally a secondary steel producer; however, Nucor (one of the world's largest steel producers), as well as one of its competitors, Commercial Metals Company (CMC) use minimills exclusively. Usually it obtains most of its iron from scrap steel, recycled from used automobiles and equipment or byproducts of manufacturing. Direct reduced iron (DRI) is sometimes used with scrap, to help maintain desired chemistry of the steel, though usually DRI is too expensive to use as the primary raw steelmaking material. A typical mini-mill will have an electric arc furnace for scrap melting, a ladle furnace or vacuum furnace for precision control of chemistry, a strip or billet continuous caster for converting molten steel to solid form, a reheat furnace and a rolling mill.

Originally the minimill concept was adapted to production of bar products only, such as concrete reinforcing bar, flats, angles, channels, pipe, and light rails. Since the late 1980s, successful introduction of the direct strip casting process has made minimill production of strip feasible. Often a minimill will be constructed in an area with no other steel production, to take advantage of local resources and lower-cost labor. Minimill plants may specialize, for example, makin