Thermal solidification of stainless steelmaking dust

Stainless steelmaking dust makes an environmental problem in the disposal or landfills and has been assigned as a hazardous waste by various government regulatory agencies because it leaches heavy metals to the groundwater or rainwater in the concentrations exceeding the environmental guidelines for solid waste disposal. Solidification of the dust is to stabilize the hazardous components into amorphous silica-alumina-based clays. Various mixtures of stainless steelmaking dust and clay were investigated and the softening temperatures of these mixtures were measured. The results indicate that the mixture of stainless steelmaking dust and clay additive with 1:1 ratio has the lowest softening temperature of 1 100 °C. The clinkers can pass the TCLP leaching test after being thermally treated at the softening temperature for 15 min. A thermal process for the solidification of stainless steelmaking dust with typical clay is developed and the product is desirable for the production of bricks or disposal and landfill.