Research Regarding Iron Sludge Recovery Technology

Abstract

One of the most important wastes in iron metallurgy is the blast furnace sludge. This sludge consists of fine particles of iron ore, coke and fine particles of flux. The furnace sludge is characterized by the chemical composition similar to that of the furnace load, the major difference being the concentration of zinc and lead. Due to the similarity with the blast furnace load, this material, after pelletization, can be recycled in the technological process. However, this recirculation is limited by the zinc content, which significantly disrupts the operation of the furnace. This paper presents tests to reduce the zinc content of the furnace sludge by hydrometallurgical and pyrometalurgical processes.

Environmental-friendly view on steel industry dust and sludge as secondary raw materials-analysis and evaluation of the characteristic properties

“…Chemical analysis of our samples confirmed that these steel industry dust and sludge can be reused as a charge after satisfactory zinc reduction. The zinc content of the furnace sludge can be eliminated by hydrometallurgical and pyrometalurgical processes (Traistă and Traistă, 2022). Recent results showed that ultrasonic leaching of zinc from steel industry dust and sludge with the help of choline chloride-urea ionic liquid has special solubilization ability for ZnO, by which the leaching efect of Zn can reach more than 98% (Niu et al, 2022).…”