Gaseous reduction of ultrafine metallurgical dust in rotary furnace

A laboratory scale rotary furnace has been developed for gaseous reduction of ultrafine metallurgical dusts to produce iron, zinc and other metal resources at submelting point temperatures. The kinetics of this process is much higher than say static or moving bed systems. By way of example, using dust with 38%Fe and 10%Zn, a 17 min treatment at 900°C produces an iron product of ∼92%Fe and a zinc product of ∼86%Zn.