The removal of impurities, including sulfur and phosphorus, from molten steel, through the use of different slags, is one of the major objectives in the steelmaking process. The ability of these slags to absorb impurities depends on sevral variables, of which basicity is the most important. One possibility for the quantitative measurement of basicity in highly basic systems is the determination of the CO_2 solubility as proposed by Wagner. In the present paper, a review of the data available on the CO_2 solubility in glass melts and metallurgical slags has been made. The data indicate that the CO_2 solubility increases with increasing slag basicity. However, it has been shown that the CO_2 solubility is not a complete index for basicity. Also, the dissolution of CO_2 is exothermic and the solubility of CO_2 decreases with increasing temeprature. In most cases there is a linear relationship between the carbonate capacity and optical basicity.
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