Thermodynamic modelling of the multiphase pyrometallurgical processing of electric arc furnace dust

Electric arc furnace (EAF) dust is produced when automobile scrap is remelted in an electric arc furnace and about 10–20 kilograms are generated per ton of steel. The major elements present in the dust are usually zinc, iron and calcium with smaller amounts of numerous other elements such as lead, copper and nickel. Typically, in the pyrometallurgical EAF dust treatment processes, the lead and zinc are separated as a crude zinc oxide while the iron is generally not worth recovering. Copper and nickel are usually not recovered as they report either to the oxide residue or to any metallic iron that is produced. In the present research, the recovery of the non-ferrous metals in a multiphase system consisting of gas, slag, matte, metal and solid carbon phases was investigated. The equilibrium compositions of the various phases, resulting from the smelting of the dust, were calculated using the SOLGASMIX module of Outokumpu HSC Chemistry. The effects of the following operating variables were investigated; carbon additions, sulphur additions, nitrogen and oxygen additions, temperature and dust composition. The thermodynamic modelling results show that the majority of the non-ferrous metals can be recovered, with the zinc and lead concentrating in the gas phase and the nickel and copper concentrating in the matte phase.