Recovery of Chromium from Stainless Steel Slags

Abstract

Residues from stainless steel production contain notable amounts of hazardous compounds such as chromium and other heavy metal compounds. These potential toxicity results in restrictions regarding the reusability of chromium containing slags, leading to landfilling instead of using them for other applications such as a substitution for natural aggregates in the construction industry. The paper shortly describes the physical recovery of the metals contained in the slag and its problems as well as the possibilities of a pyro-metallurgical reduction treatment. Different authors investigated possibilities to recover chromium from slags and treat the resulting slag with additives in order to improve their properties. Literature shows that it is important to optimize the process parameters to maximize the metal recovery rates and to influence the slags' leaching behaviour as well as its properties to get a marketable product.