Recent improvement of Process Technology for the MF

Abstract

MF is a half shaft blast furnace which has been developed at Mitsui Miike Smelter in the 1960’s to treat vertical retort residue. The MF has also been tested for treatment of various recycling materials and wastes. Now various secondaries and wastes (EAF dust, fly ash, zinc leaching residue, Cu sludge, etc.) are mainly treated. Powder materials are briquetted with reductant before being fed to the furnace. Products are crude zinc oxide, matte, non-hazardous slag and steam. Zinc and lead are recovered in oxide dust, and copper and silver are recovered in matte. The MF can be widely applied to many kinds of materials which contain such non-ferrous metal-valuables. In addition, the improvement in operation and technology has effectively made the unit capacity much larger by enrichment oxygen of air. The MF now has many advantages for treating these kinds of wastes.