Manganese furnace dust is made up of volatiles and fine particles of the raw materials collected from the off-gas during smelting of manganese alloys. Impediments to the recycling of the manganese furnace dust back to the ferroalloy furnaces are handling due to the presence of tar, and the potential accumulation of zinc in the furnaces, which can cause irregularities in their operation. The aim of the thesis was to establish conditions for zinc removal from the dust and assess the feasibility of the dust recycling in the Tasmanian Electrometallurgical Company sinter plant. Major findings are: - Manganese furnace dust taken from the settling ponds contained water, carbonaceous materials (tar), and metal oxides. The carbon content of the dried furnace dust was about 20% and the average manganese and zinc contents were 33.4 and 1.29%, respectively. Moisture content was 30-60%. - The tar components were aliphatic hydrocarbons and polyaromatic hydrocarbons, their derivatives, and sulphur- and oxygen-containing compounds with a wide range of carbon number (15-28) and boiling point (230-530oC). Light hydrocarbons were not detected. - If manganese furnace dust was recycled to ferroalloy furnaces through the sintering plant, the overall zinc input had increased by 51-143%. Sustainable utilisation of manganese furnace dust should include enhanced zinc removal. - Reduction of zinc oxide from manganese furnace dust pellets started at 800oC. Zinc oxide was reduced to zinc vapour by tar in the dust. Temperature and gas atmosphere were key parameters affecting the zinc removal from the dust. The zinc removal rate increased with increasing temperature and was close to completion at 1100oC. - Optimal conditions for removal of zinc from the furnace dust include: temperature in the range 1000-1150oC, inert gas atmosphere and furnace dust fraction in the furnace dust-manganese ore mixture above 60%. - Zinc removal in the processing of manganese furnace dust in the sinter plant was low because of zinc reoxidation in the sinter bed. This makes the sinter plant unsuitable for recycling of the dust. More suitable conditions for utilisation of manganese furnace dust exist in the rotary hearth furnace, which development is recommended for further study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/272580 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Shen, Ruihua, Materials Science & Engineering, Faculty of Science, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. Materials Science & Engineering |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Shen Ruihua., http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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