Turkish steelmaker Ekinciler Demir ve Celik Sanayi plans to establish a facility at its Iskenderun, Hatay plant to recover zinc from electric arc furnace (EAF) dust and produce commercial zinc oxide.
The approximately TRY 342 mln (USD 7 mln) project will process 22,500 tons of EAF dust and 4,500 tons of anthracite annually using pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes. The thermal treatment will first concentrate the zinc in the dust, followed by chemical processing to recover the zinc and produce zinc oxide.
The facility is designed to produce around 10,000 tons per year of commercial-grade zinc oxide with approximately 63pct purity. The process will also generate around 17,000 tons per year of iron-rich Waelz slag, a solid residue remaining after zinc recovery, which will either be sent to licensed recovery facilities or stored at the company’s existing slag storage area, depending on waste-management analysis.
The project aims to recover the zinc contained in EAF dust and convert the waste material into a commercially valuable product.
Ekinciler Demir ve Celik Sanayi A.S., established in 1983 and headquartered in Istanbul, produces steel billets and ribbed reinforcing steel. Its Iskenderun steelworks has annual liquid steel production capacity of 1.4 mln tons, while its rolling mill has capacity of 1.3 mln tons of rebar.
1 USD / 48.8 TRY