9 million tons of Electric Arc Furnace Dust are being extracted through two steps process, namely Waelz Kiln Process and Zinc Refining all over the world for more than a half of century. The Waeltz process can condense zinc oxide and eliminate cholerine and fluorine from EAF dust. Condensed zinc oxide can be easily refined through both pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical zinc refining process routes very easily.

Kinotec has long been tried to extract zinc directly along with Dr. Hiroyuki Matsuura, Deputy Professor,Tokyo Univ. for selective cholination process using pyrometallurgical route since 2018. In the meantime Mr. Kenji Haiki, Metallurgist newly joined with the project since 2021, who had been working with Japanese Nonferrous Smelting and Refining Company for more than twenty years as a researching engineers.

Mr. haiki again challenged the process to extract zinc directly through the different process route, namely hydrometallurgical route using alkaline earth metals as extraction reagent, which had been tried before more than five decades in France but could not succeed due to some technical difficulties of separation in hydrometallurgy processing.

Last spring Mr. Haiki, Kinotec had appealed the success of New Kinotec Process of hydrometallurgical route to the governmental technical developing agent of NEDO, Japan and had succeed to get the authorization to assist financial collaboration for constructing the first pilot plant of New Kinotec Process of direct extraction of zinc at the site of some electric arc furnace plant in Japan.

The process of direct ectraction pilot plant is first to wash away chlorine and flouline, the second step of process to extract zinc with sodium hydroxide with two stage, the third process is to clarify impurities and finally zinc metal powder is electrowined from clarified zinc sodium hydroxide solution. Previously the similar process had been tried in France, but now the process will be again tried in Japan.

https://www.kinotech.jp/

Tomoki Katagiri, Sinor Process Engineer, Kinotec Inc.

（IRUNIVERSE　Katagiri）

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