TRANSLATION FROM RUSSIAN LANGUAGE

42

YDK 669.1.504. 064. 43 Code 53.31

D. E Esezobor, V. I. Rostovsky, O. A Tunik, O. A Baidin
Directions for the Organization of Waste less Metallurgical Processes.
Technical Report Deposited with Ukraine Technical Information, 16.02.93 No
179-Yk 93, January, 1993. 15 pages.

ABSTRACT
The paper presents the analysis of various sources of iron bearing wastes generated
in iron making and methods employed by Ukraine Government, Institutions of high
learning and Research Institutes of wastes-free technology to recover and recycle
iron-bearing wastes of metallurgical processes.
The wastes (residues) are produced during iron making, steelmaking, and rolling
operation and further treatment of steel products. These residues comprise slags,
dusts, sludges and mill scales and constitute almost 7% of steel production. Other
residues include spent pickle liquor and other iron-bearing materials. 25% and 50%
of the total quantity of iron-bearing wastes generated in the steel industry are derived
from sintering and iron making operations respectively.
The methods employed in Ukraine to recover waste materials in the steel industry
include mechanical, chemical and thermo-chemical methods. The choice of any of
these methods depends on the composition and properties of wastes and the specific
condition of operations. The popular methods of reclaiming steel mill wastes are
agglomeration and metallization.

Introduction
Iron and steel industry includes all activities associated with iron-and steelmaking,
from coke production, sintering, pelletization, pig iron and sponge-iron production to
the production of finished steel products, including cold-rolled and cold- finished
products, coated products, wire and tubes. During these processes, significant
amounts of usable or unusable materials referred to as by - products or wastes are
produced. In USSR, over 20 tons of solid wastes are produced per ton of rolled
products [1-2]. These include:

Overburden and rock from the extraction of ore, fluxes and refractory materials14.7 tons
Iron and steel scrap 0.4 tons
Ore (iron, manganese and chrome) enrichment tailings -3.0. tons
(blast furnace, steelmaking and ferroalloy) slag 3.0 tons
Iron and steel scrap 0.4 tons
Products bearing iron (screenings, dusts, sludges, mill scale and hearth cinder
0.2 tons (dry mass).
Others (refractory and non-ferrous-metal scrap, wood waste, textile waste,
waste containing rubber, etc) 0.8tons
Water 87% of it recycled is used in the industry at the rate of 360 m3/ton
while 9.5 m3/ton of this value is dirty water.

The economic status of Ukraine, one of the 15 republics in USSR is based largely on
industrial and agricultural development and constantly improving transport system.
The state is located on a relatively small territory of Donetsk-Krivoroghsky basin with
a high population density, Hence her mineral, power, water, forest and land resources
are intensively utilized.
In Ukraine, up to 35 million tons of iron is lost annually in the steel industry. Half of
this amount is from iron-ore mining sector, in the form of waste products. These are
non-magnetic and oxidized ores which are difficult to enrich by the existing
operational methods. 9 million tons of iron bearing waste materials is generated in the
steel plants annually. These by- products and wastes (residues) are produced during
iron making, steelmaking and rolling operation and further treatment of steel
products. They are slags, dusts, sludges and mill scales which constitute almost 7%
of steel production.
In the steel industry, various methods of recovery and assembly of dusts obtained
from gas and air dedusting system are employed. In most cases, the dusts from dry
dedusters are discharged and transported by hydro power. During this process, the
dust is transformed to sludge and with other sludges from water flushing of the
surroundings are conveyed to sludge storage tank or pit or sludge dewatering plant
(fig 1.), as in the case of baghouses (BH) and cyclones of sinter plant No 1 and No 2
of Zapadno-Sibirskovo Metallurgical Complex in Russia Federation. The particulates
and dusts from the entire length of the sintering strand to the wind boxes of the BH of
sinter plant No 3 are connected to two inclined scraping conveyors. The first conveyor

receives materials from the side of charging burden while the second conveyor from
the discharging of sinters.
The shortcomings of these processes include the secondary emission of dusts to the
environment during its assembly and discharge to the conveyor and also the difficulty
encountered during the treatment of these dusty materials.
This paper presents the analysis of various methods employed by Ukraine
Government, institutions of higher learning and research institutes to recover and
recycle the iron and steel industrys wastes.
Quantification of Steel Residues
Volume of wastes generated and their utilization were determined from the value of
production yield of the industry, the quantity of the plant, state of pollution control
system and its efficiency. Table 1 presents the main by -products generated in the
steel industry.
Table 1. The main by-products generated in the steel industry
S/N

Production process

Sintering

Wastes (residues)
Gas cleaning
Water flushing and pollution control system
Flue dust
BF sludge
Screenings

Blast
2
Furnace
(BF)

Water flushing and pollution control system

Casting machines

Sludge
Dust
Sludge

Sinter
Pellets
Sludge

OHF

5-25
Sludges

Steel
Making

Rolling
Mills

Yield, kg per
ton of product
30-60
20-50
20-30
15-90
15-80
80-150
30-60
20-40
6-10

BOF
Electric Furnaces
OHF
Slag
BOF
Electric furnaces
Graphite dust of mixer workshop
Lime (0-8 mm)
Screenings
Limestone (0-20 mm)
Lime Breeze from gas cleaners and pollution control system
Mill scale
Primary sedimentation
Secondary sedimentation
Grinding and cutting wastes
Sludge from roll grinding shop
Sludge from Gas cleaners
Metallic dust
Residues from metal degreasing and cleaning

15-30
5-20
70-120
90-120
60-100
0.2-0.4
20-40
10-20
10-20
20-40
10-30
20-55
10-40
5-15
10-30
5-10

Sintering
The main sources of residues (wastes) in the sinter plant are the dust and sludge
generated during the discharge of particulate dusts from the BHs of the gas collector
and pollution control systems. Dust and sludge are also generated from the gas
dedusting systems and water flushing of the surroundings. Sulphur dioxide is emitted
from the sinter machine off-gas.
The dust generated from the sinter plant can be classified as:
- dust resulting from mechanical treatment, handling charging or discharging of the
materials and the sintered products as well as the recycled materials and
- dust in the off- gas from the sintering machine.
The dusts components (coke and ore) are held back in dedusters (cyclones,
electrostatic precipitators and partly in graveled bed filters. The total amount of sinter
dust is on average 1 - 2.5% of the sinter produced. The sinter plant generates 25% of
the total quantity of iron bearing wastes in the steel industry [3].
Figure 1-2 are schematic diagrams of the various processes (reviewed) of recovery,
assembly and recycling of wastes in the sinter plant. The coarse particulates dusts
from the BHs are generally discharged and transferred to the sintering machine in
form of sludge in Dneprovsky metallurgical plant (Dzerjinskovo), Enakevsky,
Makeevka (fig 1). In some plants, where the level of utilization is high, the dusts are
recycled
in
form
of
solid
materials
(Azovstal,
Dnepropetrovsk). The dusts from the BHs and electrostatic precipitators (EP) of the
sinter plant are conveyed to the sinter return conveyor in their dried form by means of
vacuum pneumatic conveyor and reused as part of sinter charges
(Figure 2)
The disadvantages of the first scheme (fig.1) include the huge capital and operational
costs, excess water consumption, huge maintenance cost of the dewatering plants and
sedimentation pit as well as low coefficient of utilization of iron bearing sludges.
However, the level of utilization of the above mentioned dusts and sludges in Ukraine
is 61% [Ministry of Steel, Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine].
Blast Furnace
In the iron making division more than 10 types of wastes are generated. The
significant ones among them include flue dust, casthouse dust, sludge, sinters and
pellets fines and BF slags.
Large fraction of the dusts generated in the blast furnace is released with the flue dust.
Other sources of dusts usually regarded as unorganized emission are from cone-bell
space, molten metal and slag, casthouse, dust bin and slag-granulation workshop.
The blast furnace gas is usually purified through multiple stages which may be more
than 3 - 4 consecutively attached equipment (dust catchers). The gas polluted with
dusts undergoes first stage of dedusting in radial and tangential dry dust catchers
(cyclones) where particles of flue dust with sizes above 100m are separated from the
BF gas. 60-75% of the total dust in the off-gas is collected in the above dedusters. The

Sinter Returns

Collector

Drum Kneader
Water

Limestone 0-3mm

Wastes
Mix

Precipitator
Drum
Mixer

Sinter Returns

To Atmosphere

Coke breeze
Iron ore 0-10mm
Concentrates

To DB

Dust

To
Atmosphere

Scrubber

Cyclones

To Atmosphere

+10mm
Water

Water

Sinter Returns
Drum Cooler

0-10mm

Cyclones

Sludge

Sinter
Returns
Collector

10-15mm
Scrubber

Classifier
Drag Vacuum Filter

Suspended Solids

Radial
Clarifier

Filtrate
Thickener
Disc Vacuum Filter

Dried iron bearing wastes

Spiral Mixer

Lime fines

Iron bearing wastes Mix

Drum Blender (DB)
Figure 1. A typical scheme of recovery and recycling of wastes using wet gas dedusters
5

Over- flowed
water

resulting BF gas has a dust content ranging from 3 to 10 g /m3 gas. Depending on the
separation efficiency, between 20 and 30kg of dust is removed for every ton of pig
iron produced.
Further purification of the gas is performed in scrubbers to obtain semi-fine particles
with sizes 20 m and density 0.6-1.6 g/m3. 10-50 kg of BF dust per ton molten iron in
the form of sludge is extracted by grid-type scrubbers. The efficiency of the
equipment (scrubber) does not exceed 60-70 %. The efficiency of gas purification can
be enhanced by including venturi-tube [4], while blast furnace operating on high
pressure may require the erection of both venturi and wet electro - precipitators. The
choice of equipment for BF gas cleaning depends mainly on the capital layout and
operational / maintenance cost. The technical economic indices of BF gas purification
are shown in Table 2
From the literature reviewed and field findings, a typical scheme of wastes generation
and their recycling process is deduced and illustrated in Figure 3

Atmosphere

EP

Limestone Lime kilns

DB

SINTER
Sinter Fines (bed) PLANT
Kneader

Iron ore
Iron concentrate

Sinter

EP
BH
Coal

BF

coke ovens

DSC
Sinter Fines (bed)

Chimney
Wastes

Figure 2. A typical scheme of recovery and recycling of wastes using dry gas dedusters

Sinter
Plant

DDC

BLAST FURNACE

S P

10-25mm
0 0-30 0-3
0-10
3
3

SP
FT

Atmosphere

BOF
Atmosphere

H20
BF

DDC
cycling

EP

Blast air
CH

Pig iron
casting

Slag

Water washed
Surrounding

Molten iron

BOF

H20 Grid-type

Scrubber

Sludge Basin Dezincification

Granulation
(DB)

Recycle

to SP

ST

SR PR

D FD

Mixer
DF
Plough spiral mixer
Sinter Plant

A-Additives
S- Sinter
P- Pellet
C- Coke
- Moisture
D- Dust

=10-15%

DDC- Dry Dust Catcher

EP- Electro Precipitator
CH Cast House
FD- Flue Dust
PR- Pellet Return
DF- Disc Filter

BOF- Basic Oxygen Furnace

BF- Blast Furnace
ST- Sedimentation Tank
DB- Drum Blender
SR Sinter Return
SP- Sinter Plant

Figure 3. A typical scheme of wastes generation and their recycling process in iron making

Table 2 The Technical Economic Indices of BF gas Purification [5]

S/n

2
3

4
5

Indices

Dust content in the gas, g/m3

- Input
- yield (output)
Efficiency
Consumption Rate Per 100 m3 gas
Electrical energy, kwh
- water, m3
Relative Quantity of dust to BF gas %
Relative capital cost to the total coat of BF gas
purification

Dry Cleaning
Coarse particles
Radial
Cyclones
De-Dusters

Semi fine
Scrubbers
with venturi

9-56
3-23
50-75

1.5-16.0
0.02-2.3
80-99

3-23
1.5-16
40-60
60-95
4-10

4.7

Wet Cleaning
Fine particulates
Disintegrators Electro
filters
0.02-2.3
0.006-0.05
95-98.8

0.02-2.3
0.005-0.05
95-98.8

2.5-6.1
0.5-1.3
5-40
90-95

0.085
0.3-0.4

Worldwide, various equipment of gas purification had been developed. This includes
electro filter and metallic fiber filter. These equipment have high efficiency of
purification up to 10 mg/m3 at 200-300oC. At such temperature, gases can be recycled
or spent to produce electrical energy [6]
The emission of dust at the cone bell space can be effectively reduced by installing
autonomous de-dusting systems. In some plants the quantity of generated dust from
the furnace top laboratory is greatly reduced by recycling the gas after filtration to the
furnace top.
From investigations, loss of iron with flue dust and sludge from BF is averagely 80 kg
per ton of molten iron produced. The output of these wastes depends on the quality of
raw materials. In the BF No4 of the metallurgical complex at Krivorostal, where high
quality raw materials are used and the sinter and pellets are screened prior being
charged into the furnace, the quantity of dust and sludge generated does not exceed 20
kg per ton pig iron. In Enakievsky metallurgical plant where screening is not done, the
value exceeds 160 kg per ton molten iron.
Steel Production
The use of oxygen to intensify steel making processes had raised the yield of metal
oxides dusts.
Open Hearth Furnace (OHF)
The open hearth furnace as a traditional steel smelter features great flexibility as
regards the use of scrap, pig iron and fuels. Prevalent methods are the pig-iron /scrap
process (50-80% pig iron / scrap process (50-80% pig iron).
In Soviet Union, the development of modern OHF had been based on the tandem
process to increase the melting rate by preheating scrap.
Data from NPO Energostal indicates that the yield of OHF sludge is 5-15 kg per ton
steel and 10-25 kg per ton from tandem process. The quantity of emitted dust from the
surrounding air to the atmosphere is 1.8 kg /ton for OHF and for tandem process 4.6
kg per ton steel.

The quantity of OHF sludges generated in 1985 and 1990 in some metallurgical plants
in Ukraine is displayed in table 3
Table 3. The Yield of OHF Sludges in Some Metallurgical Plants in Ukraine
S/N
PLANT
1985
1990
1
Dneprovsky (Dzerjinskovo)
23,000
50,000
2
Ilicha
30,000
45,000
3
Zaporodstal
18,000
20,000
4
Kommunarsky
71,000
85,000
5
Krivorodsky
65,000
90,000
6
Makeevsky
43,000
60,000
Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF)
The major by-products of BOF are metallic by-product, slags, dusts and sludges
refractory materials, fuels, lime dust and other materials.
BOF steel making dust and sludge are generated as a result of the cleaning of the offgas emitted from the process. The primary cleaning of the gases is normally achieved
by washing the gases with water and in a few cases, by means of dry electrostatic
precipitators.
The wet gas cleaning system is usually a 2-stage process. In the first stage, the gases
are cooled and the coarse dust is removed. During the second stage, the fine dust
fraction is washed out of the gas
The following types of dust collectors are mostly employed in the steel production
a)

Inertial. De-dusting system of this type are of 2 folds namely i) Dust collector

with settling chambers whose operation is based on gravitational settling of dust

particles from the furnace off-gas and ii) cyclone de-dusters in which the dust
separation effect is achieved due to centrifugal acceleration
b)

Impact- action type where the dust-laden gas flow encounters a solid body

(or a liquid, such as water droplets), and

c)

Electrostatic precipitation (EP)

In many cases, exhaust gases, which contain nearly 90% CO are combusted with
entrained air, then cooled, cleaned and released into the atmosphere through a stack.
In some cases the gases are cooled with water sprays or waste-heat boiler upon
leaving the furnace and vented through a flare stack. Thus producing a certain
quantity of steam which can be used as process steam or for heating.

Figure 4 shows schematically the gas cleaning system of a converter without

combustion of CO which makes it possible to utilize the latter as fuel at the works
(Enakievsky plant).The cleaning system comprises a waste heat boiler, gas cleaners, a
moisture separator with a whirler, a blower and burner. On passing through the boiler,
exhaust gases are cooled to 850oC and are then cooled further in a water sprayed gas
duct and enter the gas cleaning system comprises two stages of venturi tubes:

Spray gas duct

Radial boiler
cooler
Burner

Sludge
Dust collector

Upthrust

Converter
Blower
Gas
De-duster

Sludge

Sludge
Figure 4 Schematic Diagram of the gas cleaning system of a converter without combustion of CO

10

i) 2 parallel rectangular venturi tubes and ii) highpressure venturi tubes with a
moisture separator and a whirler.
The characteristics of the system are as follow:
Maximum flow rate of converter gas 170,000 m3 /hr
Gas temperature
At converter outlet

1700oC

After cooler

850oC

After 2nd stage Venturi tubes

50oC

Flow rate of water

1900 m3/h

Final dust content in gases

100 mg/m3

Maximum Rating power of boiler

182 t/h

Electric Furnace
Electric furnace are devices mainly used to produce high quality steel. Electric arc
furnace (EAF) is mostly preferred than any other electric furnaces. The rate of
generation for EAF dust in Ukraine ranges from 5-15 kg per ton steel melted. These
figures depend on the composition of the furnace burden, intensity of air injection into
the furnace laboratory. It also depends on the methods of oxygen application and
furnace capacity. The dust is collected by evacuation into a BH

Rolling and Finishing

Rolling may be done hot or cold. The principal residues produced from rolling and
related surface preparations are mill scale, rolling sludges pickle liquor and grinding
swarf. These residues constitute 0.7% of overall steel production and other residue
which includes dusts collected during maintenance and clean-up operations.

Figure 5 gives a schematic diagram of the metallic yield and different types of metal
losses, proceeding from in - got casting, the production of semi-finished products and
rolled steels as well as cold working on metallurgical products.
The value of material losses in rolling mills, i.e. slags, mill scale and scale sludge, is
approximately 4.5% of the total steel produced [7]. The quantity of these residues can
be influenced and reduced by heating furnace operation and deformation parameter

11

such as optimum combustion in the heat treating furnaces, operation and rolling
sequence, reduction in the level of utilization of casting agents and types of fuel

Ingot steel
mAO= 100%

Manufacture of semifinished products

Scale
Crop losses

MA, = 87.78%

Hot forming

Fetting losses

Trimming Scrap

Hot rolled rolling steel

MA2 = 79.40%

Cold Forming
Further
treatment
MA3 = 73.57%

Scale scrap
Crop losses
Rejects
Residuals
Felting and
Pickling losses
Annealing,
planning peeling
and grinding losses
Residuals
Trimming scrap
Rejects

MA Metal yield of respective production stage in percentage of ingot steel

Figure 5. Metal yield and losses at individual production stages in Rolling

Methods of Treatment and Utilization

In Ukraine, out of the 9 million tons of iron bearing waste products (sludge, dust
sinter fines, mill scales, slag etc) generated in the steel industry annually only 82% of

12

these products are recycled. Sludge (up to 3.2 million tons) is difficult to reclaim and
a little more than 50% of it is utilized. Table 4 provides data about the quantity of
generated sludge and its coefficient of utilization in the major metallurgical plants in
Ukraine. Data were obtained from field studies and literatures.
Steel could be regarded as the most recycled materials on earth. While this recycling
record has been impressive, more must be accomplished to identify and implement
cost effective methods for retaining all possible iron units within the production userecycle life cycle.
Several techniques are currently employed to treat iron-bearing residues in the
industry. Nevertheless the determinant factors of these methods are the sizes and the
end usage of the products. Figure 5 provides overview of steel by-product/wastes
treatment

S/N

Plant /Complex

Sinter Plant
Quantity
Generated

Coefficient
of
utilization

Quantity
generated

Coefficient
of
utilization

Quantity
generated

Coefficient
of
utilization

Quantity
generated

Coefficient
of
utilization

Quantity
generated

Coefficient
of
generated

Table 4. Overview of the quantities of sludges generated and usage in the major
metallurgical plants in Ukraine (1990)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Dzepjinskovo
Ilicha
Azovstal
Zaporldstal
Enakeivsky
Kommuarsky
Makeevsky
Dnepropetrovsky

60,000
920,000
20,00
40,000
41,000
150,000
210,000
109,000

50
79
100
100
100
100
100
40

175,000
115,000
150,000
190,000
220,000
140,000
219,000
54,000

0
100
50
110
100
50
17
100

50,000
45,000
18,000
85,000
NA
71,000
60,000
NA

78
0
44
100
NA
0
50
NA

NA
61,00
65,000
NA
53,000
NA
NA
40

NA
50
100
NA
0
NA
NA
50

10,000

50

Blast Furnace

Open Health
Furnace

Basic Oxygen
furnace

Electric
furnace

The choice of methods of wastes treatment for possible use in the sinter plant can be
grouped into three schemes: thickening of sludge with 300-500g of solid per litre of
water, mechanical dewatering sludge to 5-40% moisture and further thermal
dehydration to 3-8% or blending the sludge cake with lime, cement or dry wastes
products. Analysis of these systems showed the use of the thickened sludge as the
simplest and most cost effective among them. The process does not require additional
expenses to treat sludge. The thickened sludge obtained from the thickener is
conveyed to the drum blender where the entire burden is blended together. However,
this process is feasible if reliable and durable pumping systems and feeders of sludges
are in place.
Other dewatering methods include mechanical thickening and dewatering, thermal
drying, chemical dewatering (mixing) and others. These methods are needed and

13

preferences are given to those that are capable of economically reducing sludge
moisture to levels approximately 10%.
Dusts and sludges from iron making and steelmaking as well as scale and sludges
from rolling operations are mainly composed of oxides primarily iron oxide. These
residues are usually recycled through the blast furnace via sinter plant (if available).
The main limits to recycling the iron making and steelmaking residues are (their zinc
content, the presence of oil, water and other contaminants and the large content of fine
particles. Specifically, sludges suffer from the disadvantage of two much moisture,
and some rolling scale and sludges are hampered by the amount of oil they contain.
Moisture: Most agglomeration processes require the moisture content of mixed
incoming materials to be in the 5 to 10% range. The moisture content of a mixture can
be controlled by the adjustment of the proportions and sequencing of incoming wet
and dry materials so as to obtain the desired moisture level. However, the quantity of
wet by-products generated at a steel plant normally far outweighs the quantity of dry
by-products generated.
Mechanical dewatering of sludge characterizes the separation (classification) of
sludge into 2-3 parts, each of which is organized in separate machinery. The coarse
particulates are usually dewatered in classificators, semi-coarse in the belt-type
vacuum filter and fine particulates at the disc or drum vacuum filters.
Spiral classificators are exclusively used for treating coarse grain pulp with solid
content of 100-500 g/l while the grit /pulp from the spiral classifier is made of 3540% moisture. Further dehumidifications are performed in vacuum filters to obtain
13-18% moisture [8-9]. Filter presses are used to reduce moisture content of sludges
to 20-30% [10-13].
There are about 25 different types of dryers. Among them are rotary drum dryer,
bottom-weigh dry, tube-dryers, etc. In CIS convective (fluidized) drying is often used
[14].
In some situation, the required moisture content of the sludges may not be achieved in
the filters due to their grain sizes. Hence the sludges are further dewatered in the
thermal dryer.
The disadvantages of these equipment include the need to dedust the exhaust gases
embedded with large quantity of dust approximately 20% weight of dried sludge and
dusting of the dried sludge during its transfer and transportation to place of usage. The
drying process deprives the materials of some valuable technological properties
needed for agglomeration. These include water receptivity, moisture capacity,
dispersity and lumpiness. Moreover, thermal drying of materials process is expensive.
One of the best methods of treating sludge for sinter plants is the process of blending
the sludge with dried wastes produced. The pre - drying of sludge with dried wastes
materials (such as flue dust, sinter and pellet fines, lime, etc) to produce

14

homogeneous, thickened and portable wastes mix enhances the use of these materials
in large quantities.
One of the methods of eliminating the use of dryer is the mixing of the moistened
material with non-slaked lime. The reduction of the moisture is achieved not only due
to the mixture of dried materials but also due to the chemical reaction of the lime and
heat effect of the waste mix.
Various works on chemical dewatering of sludge with lime [15-18] and other several
additives (cement, organic absorbent, etc) [18-20] were carried out.
Two technologies have been implemented for the utilization of the iron units
contained in the steel mills sludge and dusts: cold and hot bonding (briquetting) of the
fines particles to make them suitable for use as a raw material in iron making and
reduction in a Rotary Hearth furnace and as additive to other burden materials. These
processes are feasible for materials with low content of harmful impurities.
The use of the sludge and dust in the iron making process does not allow the full use
of the wastes generated. Hence attention is given to the production of pre-reduced
pellet where these wastes serve as the primary raw materials.
All the processes and methods of production of metalized pellets can be generally
grouped into 2: processes in which reduction of iron is obtained as a result of gasreductant (mainly in shaft furnace) and processes where the solid fuel and gas are the
reducing agent (for example, processes occurring in the rotary kiln. These processes
are mainly used to separate harmful impurities (such as zinc, lead and others) from the
iron bearing materials.
The principle behind these processes is the same. The raw material (sludges) after
dewatering are palletized and subjected to thermal treatment in the presence of a
reducing agent
Recycled dust and sludges can contain up to 5% zinc which adversely affects blast
furnace operation and refractory life (internal scaffolding and slips of the furnace
stack and damages to the refractories. The maximum permissible zinc concentration
in materials to be charged to the blast furnace varies from steel plant to steel plant and
from country to country. The control level of zinc (maximum) in France is 0.15kg per
ton molten iron, 0.5kg per ton molten iron in UK. In USA it is0.5-1.0kg per ton
molten iron, while in Japan the value is considered to be 4kg per ton molten iron [12].
Generally, the control level charge into the BF is about 0.1% of the charge [21].
Apart from the fresh raw ore materials zinc enters into the BF mostly from the
recycled products of steel production dusts and sludges of iron and steel making.

In a situation where neither BF flue dust nor sludge are recycled, 75-83% of zinc is
released through exhausted gas, while during partial close loop system (recycling of
flue dust) 90% of zinc is released through BF sludge [22,23]. However when the

15

quantity of wastes recycled with BF does not exceed 10% of the charge, the effect of
zinc lead or alkali metals content will be negligible [12]
The behaviour of alkali metals in the BF is similar to the behaviour of zinc, but it
differs in the sense that at favourable condition of BF operation, large part of these
metals are transferred to the slag and little quantity passed through the flue gases.
However, accumulation of alkali metals occurred when the quantity in the furnace
exceeds the quantity the slag can absorbed. This condition worsens the gas
permeability of the burden, formation of crusts and reduction of coke quality.
Analysis of reports from various countries showed that the maximum allowable
concentration of alkalis in Western Europe is 4.5kg per ton molten iron while in
Eastern Europe it is 6.0kgper ton molten iron [24]
Hydrometallurgy (classification of wastes and leaching) and pyrometallurgy
(reduction with volatization and chloridizing of iron oxides) are currently used to
remove harmful impurities.
Wet classification processes and selective chemical leaching tend to be ineffective
due to the fineness of the material and the form in which the zinc is present zinc
ferrite (oxide) in particles.
For over a long period in Japan, zinc is separated from clean ore and wastes through
the process called Waelz [25] which involves the heating of green pellets obtained
from zinc bearing sludges and reductant in rotary kiln at temperature 1050oC.
Institute Metallurgy Uralskovo Scientific Central AN Russia, Kuznetsk Metallurgical
plant and Belsky Zinc Plant collectively designed technology of treating blast furnace
sludges consisting of 7-10% Zn, 20-28%Fe, upto 0.3Pb, and 0.2-0.3S with the
separation of Fe and zinc in a rotary kiln [26]. This Waelz process can use cement as
binder for producing green pellets and about 10-15% graphite, semi -coke and
pulverized coal as fuel.
The disadvantages of Waelz process include high consumption rate of scarce fuel
(coke), the need to maintain constant or regulate furnace temperature and composition
of the charge to prevent the formation of crusts and treating of dusts and sludge with
not less than 4% Zn.
Increased recycling of galvanized steel is increasing the zinc content in steelmaking
dusts and sludges. If the zinc could be kept out of the BOF scrap charge, either by
segregation or by dezincing, the resulting BOF fume would have the concentration of
zinc unchanged. A broader solution to this problem may be in processes that remove
the zinc, with or without reducing the iron oxide, thereby creating two separate
recyclable streams.
That is, the partition of the high zinc bearing fine dusts and sludge from the low zinc
containing coarse fraction dust and sludge. The latter can be recycled directly to a
sinter plant or agglomerated.

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In a Canadian Steel Plant in Hamilton, BF dusts and sludges preheated in a rotary

furnace are sieved and fraction-6.35mm is blended with 2% bentonite. The green
pellets obtained are roasted in a shaft heating furnace. The products are later treated in
with coke gas in an annular rotary kiln.
The ultimate conditions for treating burden mix in a rotary kiln are:
The consumption rate of air for fuel combustion in cyclone kiln should be 0.5-09
Temperature of products of fuel combustion 1200-1450oC
The pressure at the rotary kiln-140-160MPa
Temperature of off-dusty gas 50-500oC
At this condition pre-reduced pellets with homogenous phase compound, dissolution
of zinc constituents, its reduction, volatilization and separation as vapour [27] can
effectively occur.
Conclusion
Large volume of wastes in form of dusts and sludges is generated annually in various
steel plants in Ukraine. The recycling of these products into the production of iron and
steel will have a great effect on water, forest and land resources. Various methods of
recovery, assembly and recycling of these iron bearing wastes are employed in
Ukraine. Preference is given to the recycling of iron and steel mills dusts and sludges
through sintering-blast furnace.
The key barrier to the recycling of these products directly back to the blast furnace is
its chemistry. Dusts and sludge can contain up to 5% zinc, which adversely effects
blast furnace operation and refractory life. It is advisable to determine the value of
these harmful impurities and devise the appropriate technology for its removal.
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