Separation technology of Fe and Zn from blast furnace dust at non-molten state

A process was developed to dispose blast furnace (BF) dust. The separation of Fe and Zn from BF dust at non-molten state was studied by this process including non-molten reduction, magnetic separation and the recovery and enrichment of zinc. It is found that at temperatures between 910 and 1 010℃ the reduction reactions from Fe₂O₃(s) to Fe(s) and ZnO(s) to Zn(g) are achieved by using pure H₂ or CO as a reductant. The average metallization rate and the de-zinc rate are 90% and 99% respectively, and there is no sintering during the reduction process. The iron-rich material with 90% TFe is obtained directly by magnetic separation. After the recovery and enrichment of zinc-bearing volatile, the content of ZnO in the zinc-rich material is over 92%. It is concluded that BF dust can be transformed to valuable resources such as MFe and ZnO. This process has low reduction temperature, low energy consumption and no pollution.