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Electron probe microanalysis for revealing occurrence mode of scandium in Bayer red mud

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Abstract

Red mud is a bauxite residue generated during the process of alumina production. In this research, the occurrence mode of scandium in the Bayer red mud was investigated mainly by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The Bayer red mud used in this work is composed of 21.47 wt% hematite, 12.13 wt% goethite, 8.86 wt% gibbsite, 5.02 wt% perovskite, 9.70 wt% quartz, 3.23 wt% anhydrite, 29.92 wt% Na2Al2Si5O14 and 9.67 wt% Al3Fe5O12. Besides, the scandium content in the Bayer red mud is 84.32 × 10−6, indicating that this Bayer red mud is an important scandium resource deserving exploitation. The EPMA results show that the scandium within the Bayer red mud is mainly occurring in the iron minerals of hematite and goethite with the isomorphism form, but its distribution is not homogeneous in these iron minerals with the Sc2O3 content between 330 × 10−6 and 2040 × 10−6. This study provides a theoretical base for the further experimental work on the scandium extraction from this Bayer red mud.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51604026 and 51234008) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos. 2016M590046 and 2016T90034).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Na Zhang, Hong-Xu Li & Xiao-Ming Liu

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Rare and Precious Metals Green Recycling and Extraction, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Na Zhang, Hong-Xu Li & Xiao-Ming Liu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Metallurgy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Hui-Jing Cheng

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  1. Na Zhang
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Correspondence to Hong-Xu Li.

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Zhang, N., Li, HX., Cheng, HJ. et al. Electron probe microanalysis for revealing occurrence mode of scandium in Bayer red mud. Rare Met. 36, 295–303 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-017-0893-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-017-0893-x

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