Study on stainless steelmaking dust agglomeration

A new direct recycling technology was developed to recover the valuable metals present in the stainless steelmaking dust and protect the environment. The agglomeration behavior of the dust was analyzed to ensure the requirements of the direct recycling. The main characteristics such as strength, leachability, structure and chemical composition of the pellets were investigated. SEM images show a significant amount of porosities affecting the strength of the pellets and the arrangement of particles in the pellets reveals that no recrystallization bonds are formed, resulting in the poor strength of the pellets. When lignosulfonate is applied as the binder for the agglomeration and the green pellets are dried at room temperature for 60 h, the strong pellets can be obtained without milling the dust. The result of leachability tests shows that the pellets agglomerated can not satisfy the regulations set by the environmental protection agency of US. And it will cause some environmental problems in the long storage of pellets.