A one-dimensional unsteady mathematical model was established to describe direct reduction in a composite pellet made of metallurgical dust. The model considered heat transfer, mass transfer, and chemical reactions including iron oxide reductions, zinc oxide reduction and carbon gasification, and it was numerically solved by the tridiagonal matrix algorithm (TDMA). In order to verify the model, an experiment was performed, in which the profiles of temperature and zinc removal rate were measured during the reduction process. Results calculated by the mathematical model were in fairly good agreement with experimental data. Finally, the effects of furnace temperature, pellet size, and carbon content were investigated by model calculations. It is found that the pellet temperature curve can be divided into four parts according to heating rate. Also, the zinc removal rate increases with the increase of furnace temperature and the decrease of pellet size, and carbon content in the pellet has little influence on the zinc removal rate.