Recovery of Zn from acid mine water and electric arc furnace dust in an integrated process

• Synergistic effect on the environmental management of AMW and EAFD is found.
• Mine water is used to leach EAFD.
• EAFD becomes a non-hazardous waste.
• Electrolytic Zn and Zn basic carbonate are obtained from waste.
• Cost of waste management is reduced.

In this paper, the purification of acid mine water and the treatment of electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) are integrated into one process with the aim of recovering the Zn content of both effluent and waste. Zinc recovery can reduce the cost of their environmental management: purified acid mine water is discharged after removing all metals; EAFD ceases to be hazardous waste; and Zn is valorised.The process consists of the recovery of Zn as zinc oxide and its purification into commercial products. First, EAFD is leached with acid water and the dissolved metals are selectively precipitated as hydroxides. After EADF leaching, ferrous iron is bio-oxidized and Fe and Al are then precipitated; in the following stage, Cu, Ni, Co and Cd are cemented and finally Zn is precipitated as ZnO. In order to purify water that finally is discharged to a river, lime is used as the neutralizing agent, which results in a precipitate of mainly gypsum, MnO, and ZnO. From the impure zinc oxide produced, various alternatives for the attainment of commercial products, such as basic zinc carbonate and electrolytic zinc, are studied in this work.