Reduction process and zinc removal from composite briquettes composed of dust and sludge from a steel enterprise

Abstract

In this study, composite briquettes were prepared using gravity dust and converter sludge as the main materials; these briquettes were subsequently reduced in a tube furnace at 1000–1300°C for 5–30 min under a nitrogen atmosphere. The effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, and carbon content on the metallization and dezincification ratios of the composite briquettes were studied. The reduced composite briquettes were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results show that the gravity dust and converter sludge are combined into the composite briquettes and a reasonable combination not only improves the performance of the composite briquettes, but also leads to the reduction with no or little reductant and flux. As the reaction temperature is increased and the reaction time is extended, the metallization and dezincification ratios of the composite briquettes increase gradually. When the composite briquettes are roasted at 1300°C for 30 min, the metallization ratio and dezincification ratio reaches 91.35% and 99.25%, respectively, indicating that most of the iron oxide is reduced and the zinc is almost completely removed. The carbon content is observed to exert a lesser effect on the reduction process; as the C/O molar ratio increases, the metallization and dezincification ratios first increase and then decrease.