2026 Miranda Zinc and lead recovery from EAF dust

This study addresses the environmental and operational challenges posed by electric arc furnace dust (EAFD), a hazardous residue of steel production. With the growing adoption of electric arc furnace (EAF) technology due to its lower carbon footprint, the management of EAFD becomes increasingly critical. The research focuses on a multi-step hydrometallurgical treatment to recover valuable metals—primarily zinc and lead—from EAFD while enabling the recycling of iron-rich residues back into the steelmaking process. The proposed hydrometallurgical process involves an initial chloride removal step to prevent interference during subsequent zinc recovery operations, followed by selective acidic leaching using sulfuric acid to solubilize zinc while minimizing the dissolution of iron, which remains in the solid phase. The remaining residue then undergoes brine leaching with sodium chloride solutions to extract lead, and the dissolved lead is subsequently recovered via precipitation as carbonate compounds using sodium carbonate, enabling the recycling of the brine solution for further use in the process. Chloride removal and selective acid leaching were carried out using a previously established method, extracting up to 70% of zinc from the EAFD. Furthermore, experimental results show that optimal conditions for lead extraction are 20 °C, 100 g/L NaCl, and pH 3, achieving over 90% lead removal. Finally, the lead can be fully recovered by precipitation with sodium carbonate. The proposed process minimizes environmental impact, supports circular economy principles, and enhances the sustainability of steel production by valorizing EAFD.