Synthesis of Value-Added Ferrous Material from Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) Slag and Spent Coffee Grounds

The current work is based on the process study and synthesis of value-added ferrous material from EAF (electric arc furnace) slag through reduction and melting using a waste carbon resource of spent coffee grounds. Spent coffee grounds were carbonized at 400°C to obtain transformed-spent coffee grounds. Pitch coke has also been used in the current study as a separate carbon source to compare the results obtained from using transformed-spent coffee grounds. A two-stages process has been employed in which a relatively low temperature of 1200°C was used to ensure solid-state reduction followed by melting at 1550°C. Overall, the performance of transformed-spent coffee grounds was better than that of pitch coke, thus giving rise to the potential utilization of waste materials like EAF slag and spent coffee grounds as secondary ferrous and carbon resources for iron and steelmaking applications.