Method of treating waste produced during stainless steel making

A method of treating waste produced during stainless steel making and processing, comprising:

• forming a sludge cake containing 2-5 weight percent water by dehydrating slurry-like pickling sludge containing 30-70 weight percent water produced during pickling treatment in connection with a cold rolling step of stainless steel processing;
• kneading the sludge cake containing 2-15 weight percent water with a mixture of dust produced during stainless steel making and scale produced during a hot rolling step of stainless steel processing, thereby obtaining a kneaded mass;
• adding to said kneaded mass 1 to 5 weight percent of an organic binder and less than 5 weight percent of an inorganic binder, said weight percents being based upon the solid components of said kneaded mass;
• adjusting the water content while kneading to obtain a water content in the range of 8 to 20 weight percent of the total kneaded mass;
• shaping the kneaded mass under pressure into the form of a briquette;
• heating the briquette to reduce its water content;
• charging one or more briquettes, together with a carbonaceous reducing agent into an electric furnace for pyrometallurgically reduction refining to exact metal from such briquettes.