Handbook of Recycling

Chapter 9

Zinc and Residue Recycling

Jürgen Antrekowitsch, Stefan Steinlechner, Alois Unger, Gernot Rösler, Christoph Pichler,  and Rene Rumpold     University of Leoben, Austria

Abstract

Annual global production of zinc is more than 13 million tons. More than 50% of this amount is used for galvanizing while the rest is mainly split into brass production, zinc-based alloys, semi manufacturers and zinc compounds such as zinc oxide and zinc sulfate. For the zinc and steel industries, recycling of zinc-coated steel provides an important new source of raw material. Historically, the generation of zinc-rich dusts from steel recycling was a source of loss from the life-cycle (landfill); however, technologies today provide incentive for steel recyclers ...