Vitrification of electric arc furnace dusts

Electric arc furnace baghouse dust (EAFD), a waste by-product of the steelmaking process, contains the elements that are volatilized from the charge during the melting (Cr, Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd). The results of leaching tests show that the concentration of these elements exceeds the regulatory limits. Consequently, EAFD cannot be disposed of in ordinary landfill sites without stabilization of the heavy metals. In this work, the vitrification of EAFD, from both carbon and stainless steel productions, were studied. The vitrification process was selected as the inertizing process because it permits the immobilization of the hazardous elements in the glass network and represents an environmentally acceptable method for the stabilization of this waste. Glasses of various compositions were obtained by mixing EAFD with glass cullet and sand. The EAFD and the glass products were characterized by DTA, TG, X-ray analysis and by the TCLP test. The results show that the stability of the product is influenced by the glass structure, which mainly depends on the Si/O ratio. Secondary crystallization heat-treatment were carried out on some samples. The results highlighted the formation of spinel phases, which reduced the chemical durability in acid media. The possibility to recover Zn from carbon steel production EAFD was investigated and about 60–70% of metal recovery was obtained. The resulting glass show higher chemical stability than glasses obtained without metal recovery.