Hydrometallurgically recovering zinc from electric arc furnace dusts

The increasing use of zinc-containing scrap for steel production has lead to a high zinc content in the electric arc furnace and converter flue dusts. The cost of disposing of this residue is high due to environmental restrictions. Various recycling processes have been developed for these dusts, but most never reached the pilot plant stage and many investigations were stopped because of metallurgical and economical inefficiencies. While pyrometallurgical methods have to deal with high energy consumption, low zinc yield, and valueless residues, hydrometallurgical processes could offer an economical recycling alternative. This paper describes hydrometallurgical methods for recovering zinc from steel industry dust. These methods can be integrated in the primary zinc-winning process or in galvanization. Investigations of sulfuric-acid leaching show high zinc solubility but also a high iron content in the final liquor. As a result, steps for purification are required that cannot be conducted economically. Alternatively, a NaOH leaching gives a satisfying zinc yield and a very low solubility for the iron that remains in the residue.