Patent ID: 7175691

Claim:
A method of producing stainless steel comprising: a stainless steel producing step of melting a raw material to form molten steel in a melting furnace, and then refining the molten steel to produce stainless steel in a refining furnace; a reducing agent adding step of adding a carbonaceous reducing agent to a zinc-containing waste material produced in the stainless steel producing step to form a mixture; a heat treatment step of heating the mixture to evaporate and remove zinc and form a dezincified mixture; and a charging step of charging, the dezincified mixture as a coolant into the refining furnace, and optionally the melting furnace, in the stainless steel producing steps, wherein the amount of surplus carbon in the mixture is controlled by controlling the amount of the carbonaceous reducing agent added so that the amount of residual carbon in the dezincified mixture is 2% by mass or less.