Iron-oxide rich waste products

Effluents emerging from sulfide-rich waste-dumps have special characteristics, such as very low pH (< 4), high metal solubility and presence of iron colloids, which provokes water turbidity and precipitation of ochre-products. These effluents are generically named acid mine drainage (AMD), since they result, primarily, from mineral-water interactions involving some sulfide minerals that typically produce acidity upon oxidative dissolution. 

In this process EAF dust, other zinc-bearing wastes, recycled materials, coke or coal, lime, and silica are mixed and fed to a rotary furnace. The zinc and other volatile nonferrous metals in the feed are entrained in the furnace off-gas and are carried from the furnace to an external dust collection system. The resulting oxide (zinc calcine) is a crude zinc-bearing product that is further refined at zinc smelters. A byproduct of the process is a nonhazardous, iron-rich slag that can be used in road construction. Solidification technologies change the physical form of the waste to produce a solid structure in which the contaminant is mechanically trapped. 

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