Ultrasound effects on zinc recovery from EAF dust by sulfuric acid leaching

Abstract

In this work, an ultrasound-assisted leaching process was studied for the recovery of zinc from electric arc furnace (EAF) dust, in which zinc was mainly present in the form of franklinite (60%). Hydrometallurgy is emerging as a preferred process for the recovery of a variety of metals, and the use of ultrasound could offer advantages over the conventional leaching process, especially for the dissolution of franklinite. Franklinite is a refractory phase that is difficult to leach and represents the main obstacle in conventional hydrometallurgy processing. Atmospheric leaching with different sulfuric acid concentrations (0.2–2.0 M) at two temperatures (323 and 353 K) was performed. The tests were conducted using both conventional and ultrasound-assisted leaching. After the leaching tests, the solid residues were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques, whereas the leach liquor was analyzed by inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP). The use of ultrasound facilitated the dissolution of franklinite at low acid concentrations and resulted in a greater zinc recovery under all of the investigated operating conditions.

Keywords

zinc recovery / ultrasound / electric arc furnaces / dust / leaching

References

[1] Luque de Castro MD, Priego Capote F. Analytical Applications of Ultrasound, 2007, Amsterdam, Elsevier Science B.V., 99.

[2] Luque-García JL, Luque de Castro MD. Ultrasound: a powerful tool for leaching. Trends Anal. Chem., 2003, 22(1): 41.

[3] Suslick KS. The chemical effects of ultrasound. Sci. Am., 1989, 260(2): 80.

[4] Swamy KL, Narayana KL. Ultrasonically assisted leaching. Advances in Sonochemistry, 2001, Amsterdam, Elsevier Science B.V., 141.

[5] Machado JGMS, Brehm FA, Mendes Moraes CA, dos Santos CA, Faria Vilela AC, Marimon da Cunha JB. Chemical, physical, structural and morphological characterization of the electric arc furnace dust. J. Hazard. Mater., 2006, 136(3): 953.

[6] Martins FM, dos Reis Neto JM, da Cunha CJ. Mineral phases of weathered and recent electric arc furnace dust. J. Hazard. Mater., 2008, 154(1–3): 417.

[7] Sofilić T, Rastovčan-Mioč A, Cerjan-Stefanović Novosel-Radović V, Jenko M. Characterization of steel mill electric-arc furnace dust. J. Hazard. Mater., 2004, 109(1–3): 59.

[8] Dutra AJB, Paiva PRP, Tavares LM. Alkaline leaching of zinc from electric arc furnace steel dust. Miner. Eng., 2006, 19(5): 478.

[9] Langová Riplová J, Vallová S. Atmospheric leaching of steel-making wastes and the precipitation of goethite from the ferric sulphate solution. Hydrometallurgy, 2007, 87(3–4): 157.

[10] Montenegro V, Oustadakis P, Tsakiridis PE, Agatzini-Leonardou S. Hydrometallurgical treatment of steelmaking electric arc furnace dusts (EAFD). Metall. Mater. Trans. B, 2013, 44, 1058.

[11] Cruells M, Roca A, Nùñez C. Electric arc furnace flue dusts: characterization and leaching with sulphuric acid. Hy drometallurgy, 1992, 31(3): 213.

[12] Havlik T, Friedrich B, Stopić S. Pressure leaching of EAF dust with sulphuric acid. World Metall. ERZMETALL, 2004, 57(2): 113.

[13] Havlik T, Turzakova M, Stopic S, Friedrich B. Atmospheric leaching of EAF dust with diluted sulphuric acid. Hydrometallurgy, 2005, 77(1–2): 41.

[14] Havlík T, Vidor e Souza B, Bernardes AM, Schneider IAH, Miškufová A. Hydrometallurgical processing of carbon steel EAF dust. J. Hazard. Mater., 2006, 135(1–3): 311.

[15] Oustadakis P, Tsakiridiris PE, Katsiapi A, Agatzini-Leonardou S. Hydrometallurgical process for zinc recovery from electric arc furnace dust (EAFD): Part I. Characterization and leaching by diluted sulphuric acid. J. Hazard. Mater., 2010, 179(1–3): 1.

[16] Barrera-Godinez JA, O’Keefe TJ, Watson JL. Effect of ultrasound on acidified brine leaching of double-kiln treated EAF dust. Miner. Eng., 1992, 5(10–12): 1365.

[17] Lutterotti L. Maud Version 2.0: Materials Analysis Using Diffraction, 2005