The direct reduction technology of rotary hearth furnace has been developed for nearly forty years, and the device was firstly used in the heating furnace of steel rolling, and later used to treat the iron containing waste materials. The direct reduction technology of rotary hearth furnace is characterized by low fuel quality, no need for deep processing of raw materials, simple process, good utilization of waste resources, and protection of the human environment, therefore, it has received more and more attention from the industry.

Rotary hearth furnace technology (RHF) was developed and built in the United States in 1978 by the International Metal Company affiliated to INCO Group of Canada in order to treat and utilize metallurgical wastes. It can not only be used to treat dust produced by metallurgical plants and other wastes containing iron, chromium， and zinc, but also be used to reduce iron ore.