An attainable region approach for the recovery of iron and zinc from electric arc furnace dust

Abstract

This study investigated the application of the attainable region optimization technique to establish the optimum hybrid hydrometallurgical and pyro-metallurgical process conditions required to treat the electric arc furnace dust. The analysis of the results obtained showed that a combination of an agitation speed of 800 rpm, sodium hydroxide concentration of 8.0 mol/L and a leaching temperature of 80 °C were the optimum conditions for the hydrometallurgical process, while a roasting temperature of 1200 °C, carbon content of 35.27% and a roasting period of 36 h were the optimum conditions for the pyro-metallurgical process. The iron recovered from the dust was recycled in order to upgrade the iron content of the electric arc furnace charge, thereby reducing both process loses and process wastes. Keywords: Electric arc furnace dust, Iron, Zinc, Optimization, Reclamation