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Reduction of Red Mud Discharge by Reductive Bayer Digestion: A Comparative Study and Industrial Validation

  • Bauxite to Aluminum: Advances, Automation, and Alternative Processes
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Abstract

A novel design incorporating both reductive Bayer digestion and iron recovery into diasporic bauxite processing is proposed to remarkably reduce red mud discharge. This paper presents a comparative study on reductive versus typical Bayer digestion, after which an industrial validation test was carried out. During the test, relative alumina recovery of 98% and a reduction of 10.9% in the amount of red mud generated were achieved by substituting 2 wt.% iron powder for 10 wt.% lime of bauxite in the high-temperature digestion. Meanwhile, ~ 60% of the iron minerals were converted to magnetite by iron powder, meaning that processing the resulting red mud by magnetic separation could obtain iron concentrate with total iron concentration of 55.2% and iron recovery of 60.1%. The overall reduction of red mud discharge reached 50% for a ton of alumina. The proposed prototype is conducive to improve the Bayer process, aiming to achieve cleaner production of commercial alumina.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2019M652799) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51604309).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, No. 932, Lushan Road, Changsha, 410083, China

    Yilin Wang, Xiaobin Li, Qiusheng Zhou, Biao Wang, Tiangui Qi, Guihua Liu & Zhihong Peng

  2. Powder Metallurgy Research Institute, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Yilin Wang

  3. Jinjang Group, Hangzhou, 310000, China

    Jianqing Pi, Zhiqiang Zhao & Mingli Wang

  4. National Engineering Laboratory for High Efficiency Recovery of Refractory Nonferrous Metals, Changsha, 410083, China

    Yilin Wang, Xiaobin Li, Qiusheng Zhou, Biao Wang, Tiangui Qi, Guihua Liu & Zhihong Peng

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  1. Yilin Wang
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  2. Xiaobin Li
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Correspondence to Xiaobin Li.

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Wang, Y., Li, X., Zhou, Q. et al. Reduction of Red Mud Discharge by Reductive Bayer Digestion: A Comparative Study and Industrial Validation. JOM 72, 270–277 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-019-03874-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-019-03874-1

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