Characterization of Stainless Steel and Wire Rope Pickling Sludge

With the development of Chinese industry, stainless steel and wire rope pickling sludge pollution problems have become increasingly prominent. Pickling sludge contains a large number of residual acid and heavy metals, and it is hazardous waste which would pose potential environmental problems and threaten people's health if being deposited outdoors or landfill simply. In view of Jiangsu Province present situation of pickling sludge, the paper analyzes the physical properties and the elements content of sludge from 9 enterprises. Pickling sludge pH is basically alkaline and range 7 to 9, moisture content is basically about 50% to 60%. ICP-AES has been applied to identify the content of metals. The range of Fe content is from 13.23% to 35.56% and the range of Ca content is from 1.04% to 29.93%, which shows that pickling sludge is appropriated for resource utilization. Ni and Cr are mainly contained in pickling sludge of stainless steel, the content are 1.79%~3.2% and 2.22%~3.15%, while Pb and Zn are mainly contained in pickling sludge of wire rope, the content are 0.0034%~0.53% and 3.14%~10.18%. The Elemental Analyzer has been applied to determine the content of F, Cl, N, S and P in picking sludge. The paper aims to provide a theoretical basis for making the huge amounts of the sludge harmless and how to utilize the treated sludge.