Phase Transformation and Zinc Extraction from Zinc Ferrite by Calcium Roasting and Ammonia Leaching Process

Abstract

Zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4), one of the major forms of zinc in electric arc furnace dust and zinc leaching residue, is very difficult to chemically dissolve in either acidic or alkaline solutions. It is therefore necessary to study the extraction of zinc from zinc ferrite to achieve the full recovery of the zinc resources. In this paper, CaO was used to degrade the structure of zinc ferrite and then the ammonia leaching method was applied to recover zinc. The thermodynamic analysis indicated that the zinc ferrite could react with CaO to form zinc oxide and dicalcium ferrite. The CaO–Fe2O3–ZnO phase diagram shows that Ca2Fe2O5 can be in equilibrium with ZnO rather than ZnFe2O4 at a higher CaO area. The experimental results indicated that the phase transformation of zinc ferrite, reacted with CaO, to zinc oxide and dicalcium ferrite could be completely achieved with a CaO addition of 2.4:1 (mole ratio). The peaks of zinc ferrite in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns cannot be clearly observed after calcium roasting at 1220 °C for 2 h. The ammonia leaching tests showed that the zinc leaching rate was about 90% under optimal roasting conditions.