Reduction process and zinc removal from composite briquettes composed of dust and sludge from a steel enterprise

In this study, composite briquettes were prepared using gravity dust and converter sludge as the main materials; these briquettes were subsequently reduced in a tube furnace at 1000-1300℃ for 5-30 min under a nitrogen atmosphere. The effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, and carbon content on the metallization and dezincification ratios of the composite briquettes were studied. The reduced com- posite briquettes were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, and energy-dispersive spectroscopy （EDS）. The results show that the gravity dust and converter sludge are combined into the composite briquettes and a reasonable combination not only improves the performance of the composite briquettes, but also leads to the reduction with no or little reductant and flux. As the re- action temperature is increased and the reaction time is extended, the metallization and dezincification ratios of the composite briquettes in- crease gradually. When the composite briquettes are roasted at 1300℃ for 30 rain, the metallization ratio and dezineification ratio reaches 91.35% and 99.25%, respectively, indicating that most of the iron oxide is reduced and the zinc is almost completely removed. The carbon content is observed to exert a lesser effect on the reduction process; as the C/O molar ratio increases, the metallization and dezincification ra- tios first increase and then decrease.