The on-site sinter plants of the Swedish ore based steel industry are all closed. Instead of using sinter, the blast furnaces (BF) operate on iron ore pellets and the major part of the recycling of in-plant residues is realized via cold bonded briquettes charged to the BF. Cost of raw materials and energy continuously drives the work towards an increased recycling of in plant residues. The major part of the zinc entering the BF leaves through the top gas ending up in the BF dust and sludge. The recycling of all the BF dust back to the BF leaves the BF sludge as the main bleed of zinc out of the system. In order to utilize the iron and carbon content of the sludge, means to remove zinc is required prior to recycling via the briquette. In the present work, blast furnace sludge has been characterized. Using the characterization as standpoint, different operations for zinc removal was suggested and studied in laboratory scale. Zinc was successfully removed using a hydrometallurgical and physical separation route, respectively. A successful dezincing operation would enable the recycling of the sludge. This would improve the material- and energy efficiency and substantially decrease the amount of sludge being landfilled.