Steelworks and foundries use a refined carbon as alloy-forming, reducer and fluxing agent for the production of the metal. This refined carbon, which can be graphite, high purity coke, etc., is used in order to increase the carbon content of the steel without introducing any external contaminant (especially sulphur, nitrogen and other metallic elements), to contribute to the reduction of the metal oxides, etc. Therefore, the higher the required quality of the final steel or metallic product, the lower the concentration of such contaminants must be, being the specifications in some case near zero.
The use of a recarburizer in the production of steel or founding becomes necessary due to the need for introducing carbon as alloy-former in the metal, in such a way that the metallic product reaches the proper characteristics.