Experimental/theoretical Study on the Effect of Particles Size on Carbothermal Reduction of ZnO

Carbothermal reduction process has been regarded as an industrial method for extraction of zinc metal since a long time ago. Moreover، recently recovery of zinc from electric arc furnace dust، by carbothermal process، has been considered by many researchers. Since this process involves a solid state boundary reaction (direct reduction) between zinc oxide and carbon particles، the reduction rate is very sensitive to the particle size of reactants. In this study، the effect of zinc oxide particle size on kinetics of process has been studied by isothermal gravimetric analysis technique. Furthermore، in order to interpret the obtained data، a mathematical model has been developed which is acceptably fitted to the experimental results.