Carbothermic Reduction of Zinc and Iron Oxides in Electric Arc Furnace Dust Original Research Article

The reduction of zinc and iron oxides from electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) by carbon was investigated at temperatures between 800 and 1300 °C. The analytic technique employed includes chemical analysis, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), and thermodynamic database FactSage 6. 2. It was found that the reduction of zinc and iron oxides depends largely on Boudouad reaction. At 900 °C, zinc exists in tested samples as ZnO, which is reduced in the temperature range of 1000 — 1100 °C. At 1100 °C, 99. 11% of the zinc is evaporated. The metallization ratio of Fe is 79. 19% at 1300 °C, as the content of Fe2+ is still 9. 40%. A higher temperature is thus required for a higher reduction degree of Fe oxides by solid or gaseous carbon.