Sm. Hay et Wj. Rankin, RECOVERY OF IRON AND ZINC FROM BLAST-FURNACE AND BASIC OXYGEN FURNACEDUSTS - A THERMODYNAMIC EVALUATION, Minerals engineering, 7(8), 1994, pp. 985-1001
Large amounts of dusts are produced from the blast furnace and basic o
xygen furnace. These contain high levels of iron but their zinc conten
ts of up to 1% and 1-6%, respectively, may prevent their being recycle
d to the blast furnace or basic oxygen furnace and, at present, they a
re often dumped. A thermodynamic modelling study was undertaken to ide
ntify the types of processes that could be used to treat these dusts p
yrometallurgically to remove the zinc (and other volatile elements) an
d return the iron as hot metal, metallised clinker or iron oxide clink
er to the smelling flowsheet. Particular attention was given to the po
ssible use of bath smelting processes under development as well as, ki
ln processes as presently used to treat electric arc furnace dusts. Th
e smelting options examined were single-stage smelling, smelting with
pre-reduction, smelling with post-combustion and smelting with pre-red
uction and post-combustion. Solid-state reduction to produce FeO-rich
clinker and metallised clinker was also considered. It was concluded t
hat a range of operating regimes is feasible and that the choice of pr
ocess will depend on local circumstances.