Zinc is present in electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) mainly in two basic minerals, namely as franklinite ZnFe2O4 and/or zincite ZnO. While zincite is relatively reactive and easily treatable, franklinite is considerably refractory, which causes problems during EAFD processing. In this work EAFD containing 18.53% Zn was leached in water solution of ammonium carbonate. This leaching solution selectively leaches zincite, while franklinite is refractory and stable against leaching in this case. The temperature dependence of zinc leaching from EAFD was studied and the activation energy EA was determined by two methods: 1.) classically based on zinc chemical analyses from the leaching solution and 2.) by using of X-Ray diffraction qualitative phase analyses of leaching residues. The determined values of activation energies 37.41 and 38.55 kJmol–1 match perfectly, which show the excellent possibility of using X-Ray diffraction toward the study of leaching kinetics at properly chosen experimental conditions. The important result is the determination of the amount zincite and franklinite in EAFD, which is not possible by using of classical chemical methods.

In this study, laboratory-scale experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of microwave-assisted alkaline leaching on the treatment of electric arc furnace dusts to recover zinc and lead. Microwave treatment is a new innovative technology in waste treatment and now is an attractive advanced inter-disciplinary field and also environmental friendly. The highest zinc extraction, 50.3% in 60 minutes using 5 M NaOH at 750 W and L:S ratio 20, and lead extraction up to 92.84% was achieved in these same conditions but in 30 minutes. Compared with conventional leaching, the top extraction rate using MW-assisted leaching was higher by 16% (Zn) and 26% (Pb). Zinc presents in the flue dust in the form of franklinite (ZnFe2O4), its leaching in sodium hydroxide does not occur under the examined conditions, because it is enclosed in a matrix of iron.