Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing

Volume 12, Number 4, August 2005, Page 308 Metallurgy

Modeling and optimization of rotary kiln treating EAF dust

Pengfu Tan and Pierre Vix

Mount Isa Mines Limited, MOUNT ISA, Queensland 4825, Australia
(Received 2004-09-30)

Abstract: Electric arc furnace (EAF) dust from steel industries is listed by the United Sates EPA as a hazardous waste under the reg-
ulations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act due to the presence of lead, cadmium and chlorine. The disposal of the ap-
proximately 650000 t of EAF dust per year in the U.S. and Canada is an expensive and unresolved problem for the majority of steel
companies. The Waelz process has been considered as the best process for treating the EAF dust. A process model, combined ther-
modynamic modeling with heat transfer calculations, has been developed to simulate the chemical reactions, mass and heat transfer
and heat balance in the kiln. The injection of air into the slag and the temperature profile along the kiln have been modeled. The ef-
fect of (CaO+MgO)/SiO2 on the solidus temperature of slag has also been predicted and discussed. Some optimized results have been
presented.

Key words: thermodynamic model; EAF dust; rotary kiln; solidus temperature

1 Introduction
In recent years, electric arc furnace (EAF) technol-
ogy has emerged as a significant segment of the steel
industry. The dust, generated during the operation of
the electric arc furnace, has been listed as hazardous
solid waste by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The lead, cadmium and chromium contained in the
EAF dust are considered hazardous.
The EAF dust compositions from any given plants
vary widely primarily due to the fluctuating in its feed
(steel scrap) chemistry. The typical chemical analysis
of EAF dust (wt%) is: zinc, 18; lead, 2.3; cadmium,
0.05; chlorine, 1.7; and fluorine, 0.5.
Waelz kiln [1-6] is the best available techniques
(BAT) to treat EAF dust. The EAF dust together with
coke breeze or coal as reductant are simultaneously
proportioned and charged into the rotating kiln. One
burner and coal combustion heat the kiln and the bed.
Zinc, lead and cadmium volatilize as metal vapor and
are re-oxidized in the kiln atmosphere. The kiln has to
be operated with surplus air in order to produce metal
oxides. The mixed oxides are drawn from the kiln
with the flue dust and separated in a gas-cleaning sys-
tem. The slag leaves the kiln at the opposite end and is
granulated.
late copper smelting [7], lead smelting [8] and nickel
smelting [9-10] in a number of studies and proved to
be very successful. The author and co-worker have
also developed several thermodynamic models to si-
mulate the copper smelting process [7-8], direct lead
smelting process [9] and nickel smelting process
[10-12] and dioxin formation in iron ore sintering
process [11-12].
The two reaction zones of the kiln, the gas zone and
bed zone, are schematically shown in figure 1. A dy-
namic model, combined thermodynamic calculations
in each cell with the calculation of heat transfer be-
tween cells, has been developed to simulate the chem-
ical reactions, and mass and heat transfer in the kiln.
This model is based on the previous work done by
Koukkari and Penttilä[13-14]. In the model, the cells
in the two zones are assumed to be controlled ther-
modynamically. Thermodynamic data for the equili-
brium calculations in each cell are extracted from
FactSage thermodynamic database [15].
Figure 1 Thermodynamic calculation cells inside the kiln.

2 Dynamic model of rotary kiln The heat transfer includes convection and radiation
from gas to the bed, convection and radiation from gas
Thermodynamic modeling has been used to simu- to the inner wall, conduction and radiation from the
Corresponding author: Pengfu Tan, E-mail: tanpengfu@yahoo.com
P.F. Tan et al., Modeling and optimization of rotary kiln treating EAF dust 309

inner wall to the bed, conduction from the inner wall
to the outer wall, convection and radiation from the
outer wall to surroundings. In figure 2, Qgb is convec-
tion and radiation heat transfer from gas to the bed;
Qgi is convection and radiation heat transfer from gas
to the inner wall, Qib is conduction and radiation heat
transfer from the inner wall to the bed; Qio is conduc-
tion heat transfer from the inner wall to the outer wall;
and Qos is convection and radiation heat transfer from
the outer wall to surroundings.

Figure 2 Heat balance calculation cells inside the kiln.

The heat transfer from gas to the bed is: balance is checked by including the burner in the mul-
ti-component thermodynamic model.
Q gb  h gb Agb (Tg  Tb )  GS b (Tg4  Tb4 ) .

The heat transfer from gas to the inner wall 3 Results and discussion
is: Q gi  hgi Agi (Tg  Ti )  GS i (Tg4  Ti 4 ) . Figure 3 shows the calculated temperature profiles
The heat transfer from the inner wall to the bed is: of the gas, bed, inner wall and outer wall in the kiln.
The temperature in the feed end is much higher than
Q ib  hib Aib (Ti  Tb )  S i S b (Ti 4  Tb4 ) . that in the slag discharge end. In general, the temper-
ature of gas is higher than that of slag.
The heat transfer from the inner to the outer wall is:
2π(Ti  To )
Qio  n
.
1 r j 1
  j ln r j
j

The heat transfer from the outer wall to

surroundings is:
Q os  h os Aos (To  Ts )  S o S s (To4  Ts4 ) .

where r is the radius, A the heat transfer area, h the

heat transfer coefficient, T the temperature, GS the
total exchange area between gas and surface, and
S1S 2 the total exchange area between two surfaces
Figure 3 Predicted temperature profiles of the gas, bed,
(bed and wall). inner wall and outer wall in Waelz kiln.
The counter-current streams are divided into vo-
Figure 4 presents the amounts of slag, coal, limes-
lume elements that exchange heat and matter with
tone and water along the length of the kiln. The water
each other and the surroundings. The streams encoun-
is vaporized in the first 6 m of the kiln from the feed
ter each other in a "zipper" iteration that converges
end. The limestone decomposes completely at the
according to the outgoing and incoming temperatures
middle of the kiln. In general, some unreacted coal
that are also known by measurement. The overall heat
310 J. Univ. Sci. Technol. Beijing, Vol.12, No.4, Aug 2005

remains in the discharged slag in order to reduce all
zinc and lead oxides. According to figure 4, 30% of all
coal charged has not reacted with the EAF dust, and
remained in the slag. The amount of the discharged
slag is only half of the amount of the initial feed.
Figure 4 Amounts of solids along the length of Waelz kiln.
3.1 Effect of coal charge
Table 1 shows the effect of coal charge on the op-
erations of the Waelz kiln. The zinc recovery increas-
es as the coal charge increases. But the unreacted coal
in the slag also increases as the coal charge increases.
Figures 5 and 6 present the effect of coal charge on
the temperature profiles of gas and bed along the
length of the kiln. When the percentage of carbon in
the feed is greater than 15%, the amount of coal has
very little influence on the temperature profiles of the
gas and bed along the length of the kiln, as shown in
figure 5. But the amount of the remaining coal in the
slag increases significantly, according to table 1. It
means that the extra coal does not react with the EAF
dust. Under this operating condition of Waelz kiln,
15% of carbon in the feed is enough to reduce most of
the zinc and lead oxides.
The temperature of the gas and bed decreases along
the length of the kiln, and the recovery of zinc de-
creases from 88.8% to 76.5%, as the percentage of
carbon in the feed decreases from 15% to 12%. When
C is only 11wt%, the kiln cools, and the kiln tempera-
ture is so low that the oxides can not be reduced, as
shown in figure 6 and table 1.

Table 1 Effect of coal charge on the operations of Waelz kiln

C in Discharged slag Off-gas temperature Unreacted C in Zn in

Zn recovery / %
feed / wt% temperature / C / C slag / wt% slag / wt%
20 863 831 11.9 3.9 91.1
17 858 834 5.9 6.3 86.3
15 860 846 4.4 5.0 88.8
12 857 815 0.2 11.0 76.5
11 730 565 4.0 30.9 0

Figure 5 Effect of extra coal charge on the tempera- Figure 6 Effect of coal charge on the temperature
ture profiles of gas and bed in Waelz kiln. profiles of gas and bed in Waelz kiln.

3.2 Effect of second air injection
Figure 7 presents the predicted temperature pro-
files of the gas, bed, inner wall and outer wall in the
Waelz kiln when air is injected under low pressure at
the discharge end of Waelz kiln. Temperatures of the
bed and gas in the feed end of Waelz kiln with second
air injection are much lower than that of normal
Waelz kiln, but temperatures of the bed and gas in the
discharge end are much higher than that of normal
Waelz kiln, as shown in figures 3 and 7. The reason is
that the metallic iron in the slag re-oxidizes with the
blast air, and the oxidization reaction releases a sig-
nificant amount of heat near the discharge end of the
Wealz kiln where the second air is injected.
P.F. Tan et al., Modeling and optimization of rotary kiln treating EAF dust 311

Figure 7 Predicted temperature profiles of the gas, bed, Figure 9 Solidus temperature of slag from the feed end to
inner wall and outer wall in Waelz kiln where the second the middle of kiln.
air is injected.

Figure 8 shows the effect of coal charge on the

temperature profiles of the gas and bed along the
length of the Waelz kiln where the second air is in-
jected. When carbon in the feed decreases from 15%
to 10%, the temperature of the gas and bed are still
high enough to reduce the zinc and lead oxides.

Figure 10 Solidus temperature of slag from the middle of

kiln to the discharge end.

3.4 Solidus temperature of slag and MgO content

Figure 8 Effect of coal charge on the temperature profiles
of gas and bed in Waelz kiln where the second air is in-
jected.
in feed
Figure 11 shows the effect of the replacement of
CaO by MgO on the solidus temperature of slag from
the feed end to the middle of kiln. Figure 12 presents
the effect of the replacement of CaO by MgO on the
solidus temperature of slag from the middle of kiln to
the discharge end.

3.3 Solidus temperature of the slag and CaO/SiO2

in feed
In order to avoid accretion problems in the kiln, the
solidus temperature of slag should be high enough.
The CaO/SiO2 or (CaO+MgO)/SiO2 ratio is very im-
portant for the control of solidus temperature of slag.

The soildus temperature of the slag has been calcu-

lated using FactSage [15] and shown in the following
figures. Figure 9 shows the effect of CaO/SiO2 ratio
on the solidus temperature of slag from the feed end to
the middle of kiln. Figure 10 presents the effect of Figure 11 Effect of MgO on solidus temperature of slag
CaO/SiO2 ratio on the solidus temperature of slag from the feed end to the middle of kiln .
from the middle of kiln to the discharge end.
According to figures 9-12, the solidus temperature
of slag increases with the CaO/SiO2 ratio increasing.
The replacement of CaO by MgO also increases the
312
solidus temperature of slag.
Figure 12 Effect of MgO on solidus temperature of slag
from the middle of kiln to discharge end.
4 Conclusions
(1) The process model, combined thermodynamic
modeling with heat transfer calculations, has been de-
veloped to simulate the chemical reactions, mass and
heat transfer and heat balance in the kiln. The injec-
tion of air into the slag and the temperature profile
along the kiln have been modeled. The effect of
(CaO+MgO)/SiO2 on the solidus temperature of slag
has also been modeled and discussed. Some optimized
results have been presented in this paper.
(2) The solidus temperature of slag increases with
the CaO/SiO2 ratio increasing. The replacement of
CaO by MgO also increases the solidus temperature of
slag.
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