Reduction of Zinc Ferrite Contained in Steelmaking Dusts by Co - Co2 Gas Mixtures

In this work, the reaction between an equimolar synthetic zinc ferrite sample and a mixture of CO - CO2 gases was studied to evaluate the effects of temperature and CO content. The temperature ranged from 1073 to 1373K, and the gas mixtures from 50% to 100% of CO. These tests were supported by physical, chemical, structural and microscopic characterizations of both, initial zinc ferrite generated in laboratory and the remained after reaction. It was observed that the temperature and CO content were the main factors affecting the zinc ferrite reduction. The maximum reductions indexes obtained in these experiments were 85%, for 100% CO at 1373K, in 105 min, and 52%, for 50% CO at 1373K, elapsed 105 min. The Apparent Activation Energies obtained in this study were 55.60 and 91.71 kJ/mol, for 100%CO and 50% CO-50% CO2, respectively.