During solidification, oxygen dissolved in molten steel causes negative material properties such as embrittlement, susceptibility to cracking, pitting corrosion and poor machinability. A possible way to reduce the oxygen content of molten steel is to add deoxidisers to the melt. To achieve a high deoxidation potential the quality requirements of the deoxidisers are very important. Due to the diverse ways of producing deoxidation granules, such as by smelting, cold working or shredding, an evaluation of the individual materials with regard to their deoxidation potential is of general interest. This article aims at evaluating the advantages of deoxidation aluminium produced by smelting as opposed to differently produced deoxidation aluminium - in order to make possible objective classification, to facilitate usage allocation, and to highlight decisive quality properties of the individual products.