Hot Metal Desulphurization Using Waste Residues from the Aluminum Industry

In this paper, the sources, properties and possible applications of waste residues from the aluminum industry as refining agents for the steel industry were investigated. Characterization of the potential fluxing agents was performed using a combination of XRD, XRF, DTA, and TGA. Experiments were carried out to examine the potential of hot metal desulphurization with fluxes made from these residue materials in comparison with those obtained from bauxite. To facilitate this comparative behavior of fluxes derived from different source materials, particular attention was given to the enhancing effects of controlled amounts of sodium oxide in contrast to the deleterious effects associated with the presence of silica and titanium dioxide on the desulphurization process. A major advantage of refining fluxes made from white mud waste products is that they contain significant amounts of sodium oxide and only very small concentrations of the oxides of silicon and titanium.