Abstract
Electric furnace dust and filter cake collected from a stainless steel plant as well as EF dust collected from a ferrochrome plant were characterised. Electric furnace dusts consist of very fine particles, from which Cr(VI) can be leached by shallow groundwater. When heated in air H2O, CO2, SO2, SO3, fluorine, calcium and silicon are expelled from these materials, while metallic particles oxidise. The main phases present in the stainless steel plant dust are the (Mg, Fe, Mn, Cr)3O4 spinel phase, quartz, Ca(OH)2 and nickel. The coarse fraction of ferrochrome dust mainly contains chromite and partly altered chromite, quartz and carbon, while the main components of the fine fractions of ferrochrome dust are chromite, SiO2, ZnO, NaCl and Mg2SiO4. CaF2 is the major phase in the filter cake. Cr(VI) containing phases are possibly generated at the top of the submerged arc furnace or in the off gas duct, as Cr(VI) is found on the surface of the dust.
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