Abstract The amount of Electric Arc Furnace Dust (EAFD) is continuously increasing in mini-mill steel plants. This dust is considered a hazardous waste because of the presence of elements like lead, cadmium and chromium. Among many different treatment processes for this issue, there is the possibility of returning the EAFD back to the Electric Arc Furnace. This article presents a study of the compressive strength of self-reducing cold bonded pellets as well as their zinc removal, in an agglomerate containing EAFD, petroleum coke (PET) and Portland cement. The effects of the reductant and binder employed were discussed. Moreover, an apparatus was built to prevent zinc gas reoxidation inside an electric vertical laboratory furnace. Thus, the fraction of weight loss complemented the result of a previous study indicating the optimal content of PET source usage between 10 to 15%, in mass. Zinc removal and additional X Ray Diffraction outcomes are shown and discussed, concluding that 80% of zinc removal for this system could indicate the possibility of the EAFD reuse.

Abstract Electric Arc Furnace Dust (EAFD) is a solid waste originated from electric steelmaking furnaces. Currently, according to some authors, there is an estimated generation of 15 to 25 kg of dust per ton of steel produced. The formation of the dust is related to the following steps of the process: furnace charge, metal volatilization, iron vaporization under the arc, drag of solid particles and, mainly by the collapse of CO bubbles from metallic bath decarburation. The dust has metals that are harmful to the environment. Otherwise, it is mostly composed of the elements iron, zinc and oxygen. Due to increasing costs for disposal and because it is considered a hazardous waste, industry is looking at the possibility of returning the dust to the steelmaking process. One of the alternatives is by reintroducing the waste in an electric melting shop using self-reducing agglomerates as part of the furnace burden. In this study, self-reducing mixtures are prepared with EAFD and petroleum coke (PET), presenting chemical and physical characterizations. An evaluation about the behavior of the mixtures is carried out in thermobalance, regarding the possibility of use in measuring accurate PET content in self-reducing pellets. As results it could be stated that the elements of economic interest, Zn and Fe, represent, respectively, 34.23 and 22.80%, in weight. These elements are present in chemical species frankilinite, zincite and magnetite and the reducible oxygen was estimated as 17.90%. Also, it was concluded the optimal content of petroleum coke in the mixtures varies from 10 to 15%, in weight. Therefore, the utilization potential of the thermogravimetric technique in the industrial field for adjustment of carbon content in batches of self-reducing pellets is satisfactory.