Electric arc furnace dust: characterization of flowability

Considerable amounts of dust are generated as by-product in electric arc furnace (EAF) steel production. Dry off-gas de-dusting systems, usually dust filters are used to collect these dusts from the off-gas. In the design and operation of storage and transport equipment for the collected dusts the flow properties of the dusts play an important role. The properties relevant for particle flow - angle of internal friction, wall friction angle, bulk density and time consolidation - of EAF filter dusts originating from eight steel mills were investigated. The results showed significant differences between the EAF dusts from different steel mills. The variations of the various parameters are shown and some consequences for the design of EAF dust silos and filter hoppers are discussed.