Juergen Antrekowitsch

Abstract:

Steel mill dust recycling nowadays is dominated by the waelz process, having a market share of roughly 90 %. However, such waelz kilns must be seen as centralized units, where approximately 100 000 t/a are necessary to enable an economical operation. From the view of steel mills, the strong dependency is seen as negative and intensive research has been carried out to find recycling concepts which can be installed directly at the steel mill, treating solely the generated dust from one site. These so called mini mill solutions are generally available as hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical concepts. The paper describes typical concepts and especially the question why they have not been successful. Furthermore, actual developments of small scale processes for the treatment of steel mill dusts are discussed, presenting some new solutions. In this context, the available amount of dusts in future as well as possible new sources are evaluated. Especially the economic and environmental aspects, being able to influence the utilization of mini mill solutions positively, are investigated. Another focus is to put on future role of lower zinc containing dusts, and their potential for mini mill concepts.