Synthesis of nanosized nickel zinc ferrite using electric arc furnace dust and ferrous pickle liquor

Abstract

Electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) and waste pickle liquor (WPL); two major side products of the steel industry with negative environmental impact were used for the synthesis of nickel zinc ferrite (NZF); the important magnetic ceramic material of versatile industrial applications. The structural and magnetic properties of the prepared material were examined which showed good magnetic properties (high saturation magnetization and low coercivity) compared with those synthesized from pure reagents. In the applied process, nano sized nickel zinc ferrite (NZF) with a composition of Nix(Zn + impurities)1−xFe2O4 (where x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and impurities of manganese, magnesium, and calcium were prepared using zinc-containing electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) and waste pickle liquor (WPL). The chemical compositions of the prepared samples were determined using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. The optimum acetic acid concentration for EAFD treatment was found 2% v/v that decreased Ca content of EAFD by 70.6% without loss of Fe and Zn. The structural and morphological characterization was done by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) to confirm the formation of Ni–Zn ferrite nanoparticles and estimate the particle sizes. The maximum saturation magnetization (Ms) of 73.89 emu/g was achieved at 0.5 Ni content and the minimum coercivity of 2.55 Oe was obtained at 0.25 Ni content.

Blowing‐Combustion Synthesis of Sponge‐like NixZn1−xFe2O4 and Its Structural and Magnetic Properties

“…As the Ni/Zn molar ratio continues to increase, the Ni 2+ cations will occupy more B sites and force some Fe 3+ cations migration from B to A sites, thereby leading to enhanced magnetic exchange interaction between A and B sites [5a,20] . As expected, the Ni 0.75 Zn 0.25 Fe 2 O 4 shows a high saturation magnetization of 44.98 emu/g with a remanence of 5.061 emu/g.…”

“…Note that the optimized Ni x Zn 1−x Fe 2 O 4 sponges prepared by the blowing‐combustion method show higher saturation magnetization than most of other nano ferrites (Table 2). However, as the Ni completely substitutes Zn, the NiFe 2 O 4 shows a lower saturation magnetization of 33.06 emu/g, which is not surprising as the magnetic moment of Ni 2+ is smaller than that of Fe 3+ , and more Fe 3+ cations will be forced to migrate to A sites when the Ni 2+ molar concentration increases, thereby, the net magnetization of Ni x Zn 1−x Fe 2 O 4 will decrease [5a] …”

“…As shown in Figure 3a and Table 1, the Ni x Zn 1−x Fe 2 O 4 (x=0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1) sponges all exhibit typical hysteresis loops with low remanence at room temperature. Interestingly, the ZnFe 2 O 4 shows a saturation magnetization of 34.67 emu/g and remanence of 8.511 emu/g, which is abnormal since the ZnFe 2 O 4 should be paramagnetic at room temperature because the Zn 2+ cations in ZnFe 2 O 4 should locate in the tetrahedral sites while the Fe 3+ should occupy the octahedral sites; thus, there is no super‐exchange interaction between tetrahedral and octahedral sites [5a] . This phenomenon can be explained by the evaporation of partial Zn 2+ species at high temperature, leading to the unbalanced distribution of Fe 3+ cations in spinel ferrite.…”

“…As the Ni/Zn molar ratio increases, the Ni 2+ will occupy the B sites, thus, forcing the Fe 3+ cations to migrate from B sites to A sites. Note that the magnetic moment for Fe 3+ (5 μ B ) is higher than that for Ni 2+ (2 μ B ), the redistribution of Ni 2+ and Fe 3+ will lead to a decrease in M B and an increase in M A , thereby, leading to an enhanced magnetization [5a] …”

Combustion Synthesis of Porous NiCuZn Spinel Ferrite Hierarchies and Their Magnetic Properties

“…Generally, the net magnetic moment of the spinel ferrite can be calculated according to Eq. 1 [15b] . $$$\vcenter{\openup.5em\halign{$\displaystyle{#}$\cr M={M}_{B}-{M}_{A}\hfill\cr}}$$$ …”