Selective Extraction of Zinc from Zinc Ferrite

The presence of iron in sphalerite induces the formation of zinc ferrite (ZF) during roasting. Zinc refinery residues (ZRR) and electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) contain a significant amount of zinc ferrite and are difficult to treat. According to the literature, up to 71% ZF has been found to be present in ZRR. The dissolution of zinc ferrite is inefficient even in aqua regia. The Waelz process is an existing process to recover zinc from electric arc furnace dust by reduction using carbon monoxide followed by the volatilization of zinc. In this study, zinc was selectively extracted from zinc ferrite by partial reduction of zinc ferrite at relatively low temperature followed by leaching in dilute sulfuric acid (20 g/L). Pure zinc ferrite samples were partially reduced to zinc oxide and magnetite by using H(2)gas as a reductant. The presence of magnetite and zinc oxide was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. A maximum of 95% zinc extraction was achieved after leaching with sulfuric acid on the reacted samples. The paper also discusses the effect of time, temperature, and concentration of H(2)in the reducing gas on the extraction of zinc and iron from ZF.

Automated summary

The presence of iron in sphalerite leads to the formation of zinc ferrite, making the treatment of zinc refinery residues and electric arc furnace dust difficult. This study successfully extracted zinc selectively from zinc ferrite through partial reduction and leaching in dilute sulfuric acid, achieving a high zinc extraction rate.