Reductants and catalysts in the metal smelting industry

The main reducing agent used is coke, which produces CO; some plants use H2 as well, but I think its cost is too high. Coke is the primary reducing agent, along with CO. However, in different situations, zinc powder is used as a reducing agent when removing impurities in wet zinc smelting, while pig iron is used as a reducing agent to remove the frozen layer and slag in electric furnaces or blast furnaces. The main oxidizing agent is air, as it has a low cost.

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In hydrometallurgy, sulfuric acid acts as a catalyst, while ferrous iron serves as a reducing agent. Ferric iron is an oxidizing agent.

The reducing agents used in magnesium smelting are generally ferrosilicon, silicon-aluminum alloys, and scrap aluminum; among these, 75% ferrosilicon is usually chosen. The catalyst is typically fluorite powder

Actually, it depends on what metal is being smelted, as many metal reducing agents are not fixed. For example, when electrolyzing zinc, zinc powder is used as a reducing agent to remove impurities; whereas when the electric furnace becomes depleted, coke is used as a reducing agent. It’s necessary to consider the specific circumstances, as it’s not possible to simply state what the reducing agents used in the metallurgical industry are It can be said that in the metal activity series, the metals located before the one you wish to extract can all serve as reducing agents for that metal. However, in practice this is not feasible; when adding a reducing agent, cost must be taken into account, as well as the possibility that it may cause the formation of other impurities. As mentioned above, all of these can serve as reducing agents, but they can only be considered such in specific situations.