Study of Zinc Leaching of EAF Flue Dust Using Sodium Hydroxide

Ahsan Abdul Ghani; Junaid Saleem; Zeeshan A. Hameed; Hira Lal; Muhammad Shoaib

doi:10.21743/pjaec/2016.06.005

Authors

Ahsan Abdul Ghani Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan Author
Junaid Saleem Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan Author
Zeeshan A. Hameed Department of Quality Assurance, Peoples Steel Mills Ltd., Karachi, Pakistan Author
Hira Lal Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan Author
Muhammad Shoaib Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21743/pjaec/2016.06.005

Keywords:

EAF dust; Leaching; Sustainable environment; Zn recovery

Abstract

During the production of steel from Electric Arc Furnace (EAF), large amount of by-product called EAF flue dust is generated. The major proportion of flue dust is comprised of Zn (41.5 % wt.). Different phases identified by XRD analysis are zincite, franklinite and magnetite with zincite being dominant. In this study, we have performed flue dust treatment using sodium hydroxide as leaching medium. Different concentrations of alkali were used to optimize maximum recovery of Zn. XRF and wet chemical methods were used to characterize the dust samples both before and after leaching. The optimum alkali concentration for selective leaching of Zn was found to be 4 M with a Zn recovery of 90 %.