Carbothermic Reduction of Zinc Containing Industrial Wastes: A Kinetic Model

Abstract

Effective recycling of zinc-containing industrial wastes, most importantly electric arc furnace dust, is of tremendous importance for the circular economy of the steel and zinc industry. Herein, we propose a comprehensive kinetic model of the combined carbothermic and metallothermic reduction of zinc oxide in a metal bath process. Pyro-metallurgical, large-scale lab experiments of a carbon-saturated iron melt as reduction agent for a molten zinc oxide slag were performed to determine reaction constants and accurately predict mass transfer coefficients of the proposed kinetic model. An experimentally determined kinetic model demonstrates that various reactions run simultaneously during the reduction of zinc oxide and iron oxide. For the investigated slag composition, the temperature-dependent contribution of the metallothermic zinc oxide reduction was between 25 and 50 pct of the overall reaction mechanism. The mass transfer coefficient of the zinc oxide reduction quadrupled from 1400 °C to 1500 °C. The zinc recovery rate was > 99.9 pct in all experiments.