A Holistic and Experimentally-Based View on Recycling of Off-Gas Dust within the Integrated Steel Plant

Ore-based ironmaking generates a variety of residues, including slags and fines such as dust and sludges. Recycling of these residues within the integrated steel plant or in other applications is essential from a raw-material efficiency perspective. The main recycling route of off-gas dust is to the blast furnace (BF) via sinter, cold-bonded briquettes and tuyere injection. However, solely relying on the BF for recycling implicates that certain residues cannot be recycled in order to avoid build-up of unwanted elements, such as zinc. By introducing a holistic view on recycling where recycling via other process routes, such as the desulfurization (deS) station and the basic oxygen furnace (BOF), landfilling can be avoided. In the present study, process integration analyses were utilized to determine the most efficient recycling routes for off-gas dust that are currently not recycled within the integrated steel plants of Sweden. The feasibility of recycling was studied in experiments conducted in laboratory, pilot, and full-scale trials in the BF, deS station, and BOF. The process integration analyses suggested that recycling to the BF should be maximized before considering the deS station and BOF. The experiments indicated that the amount of residue that are not recycled could be minimized.