Recycling of blast-furnace sludge by thermochemical treatment with spent iron(II) chloride solution from steel pickling

[Display omitted] •Blast-furnace sludge was thermochemically treated with spent FeCl2 solution from steel pickling.•Chlorination and evaporation of Zn and Pb-bearing phases most efficient at 900–1000 °C.•Zn, Pb, and Cd can be quantitatively separated from Fe and C-rich mineral residue.•Investigated process allows simultaneous recycling of two waste fluxes incurring during steelmaking.•Basic cost–benefit analysis demonstrates economic feasibility of the recycling method. One of the typical wastes produced in blast-furnace (BF) ironmaking is BF sludge, which mostly consists of carbon and iron oxides, but also contains toxic trace metals such as Zn, Pb, Cd, As, and Hg that render the material hazardous. Due to the lack of an established recycling process, BF sludges are landfilled, which is ecologically questionable and costly. Here, we investigate selective removal of Zn, Pb, and Cd from BF sludge by chlorination–evaporation reactions using thermodynamic modelling and laboratory-scale experiments. Specifically, BF sludge was thermochemically treated at 650–1000 °C with a spent iron(II) chloride solution from steel pickling and the effects of process temperature and retention time on removal of Zn, Pb, and Cd were investigated. Zinc and Pb were quantitatively removed from BF sludge thermochemically treated at 900–1000 °C, whereas Fe and C as well as other major elements were mostly retained. The Zn, Pb, and Cd contents in the thermochemically treated BF sludge could be lowered from ∼56 g/kg, ∼4 g/kg, and ∼0.02 g/kg to ≤0.7 g/kg, ≤0.02 g/kg, and ≤0.008 g/kg, respectively, thus rendering the processed mineral residue a non-hazardous raw material that may be re-utilized in the blast furnace or on the sinter band.