New EAF Dust Treatment Process ESRF

by Michio Nakayama

Publisher - JP Steel Plantech Co., Yokohama, Japan

Category - General Novel

Electric arc furnaces (EAF) generate much dust during operation, which contains very high percentages of zinc, lead, and iron, as well as toxic organic substances. It is difficult to landfill it for environmental reasons, and not desirable in terms of wasting metal. However, most of the EAF dust is not processed sufficiently to make it harmless and to recover valuable metals. Some EAF dust treatment processes are now in use, but the high chloride and zinc content prevents most of them from satisfying environmental regulations and metal recovery. JP Steel Plantech in Japan and KATEC R&D Corporation in Taiwan have resolved this problem by developing a new electric smelting reduction furnace (ESRF) process. The ESRF is a simple electric furnace, which uses only electric energy for material heating and oxide reduction. In contrast, process gas treatment systems are equipped with a wide range of schemes to prevent chloride and zinc problems. The first ESRF plant was constructed in Taiwan and started operation in December 2009. This plant is working well as initially intended, achieving high levels of zinc and iron recovery, with no gaseous pollutant emission, and very low leaching of toxic heavy metals from slag.

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