David Lentz, Dr. Jürgen Rütten, Thomas Knepper
This Waelz plant for the recycling of steel mill, especially EAF, dust is the first plant of that kind in
the Middle East / North Africa (MENA) Region. The realized layout of the Waelz plant follows the
BREF-Notes of the European Community and combines it with the US Best Demonstrated Available
Technology. It was built as a green-field plant by Global Steel Dust with a local Saudi partner in the
Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The paper starts with a report of the commissioning of the plant in May / June 2016. It also shows the
challenges to find and to train suitable operation personnel under the specific conditions of KSA.
Further on we present the results and experiences of the first year of operation: comparing the
achieved vs. planed capacity, evaluating the quality of the products Waelz Zinc Oxide and Waelz
Iron Product, explaining the way and results of controlling the diffuse dust and atmospheric emission,
summarizing the differences in the raw materials.
One Year of Operation of the First Waelz Plant for Recycling of EAF Steel Mill Dust in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia