Industrial sabotage, government intervention, and a race against time to avoid devastating consequences — not a summary of a fictional political thriller, but the real-life drama that engulfed the UK steel-making industry in recent weeks. At the story’s centre were the formerly Chinese-owned blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, which were at risk of shutting down until they were brought under emergency government ownership.
A chemistry blog may not be the place to get into the politics of the situation, but it’s a topical opportunity to look at the multitude of reactions that transform ore to steel. After all, it’s not often that a topic commonly covered in secondary chemistry lessons makes international news!
