Bauxite Residue The Issues, Opportunities and Future Directions

S. Sankaranarayanan
Vice President & Head: HIC-Alumina
Hindalco Industries Limited
Belgaum 590 010

Abstract
Bauxite Residue also known commonly and popularly as Red Mud is generated as a waste
material when alumina is extracted out of bauxite ore using the Bayer Process. Depending on
the quality of bauxite ore and the process conditions adopted, about 0.8 to 1.5 t of Bauxite
Residue is generated per tonne of alumina produced. Over the years, a number of attempts
have been made to utilise bauxite residue for various applications and also to recover
valuable materials from it. Other than a meagre quantity of bauxite residue that is being used
for different applications, as of now, the major portion of bauxite residue generated in India
and the World is being stored in ponds as cake and slurry.
There are a number of technical and logistical issues connected with the utilisation of bauxite
residue. The main issue is of course related to the quantum of bauxite residue being
generated every year running into millions of tonnes. This paper places these issues in
perspective and tries to identify opportunities for the effective utilisation of bauxite residue
and attempts to provide a sense of direction to the researchers and entrepreneurs on this
important aspect.
Introduction

The world alumina production currently is about 100 Mt/a. Bauxite is the main ore from
which alumina is extracted using caustic liquor in the Bayer process. Depending on the
quality of bauxite with respect to extractable alumina (also called, available alumina) and the
process conditions employed in the refinery, about 0.8 to 1.5 t of Bauxite Residue (BR, also
commonly and previously referred to as Red Mud) is generated per tonne of alumina
produced. The global inventory of BR is estimated to be about 2.7 billion tonnes.

What is bauxite residue? Bauxite ore contains apart from aluminium as hydroxides, many
other elements in the form of oxides, hydroxides and other complexes. In the Bayer process,
the aluminium content gets extracted into the caustic liquor and the rest of the elements are
separated out from the liquor as bauxite residue. The composition of BR depends on the
bauxite composition as well as the process conditions adopted for alumina recovery. Some
typical composition of BR from three of the refineries in India is presented in Table 1 below:

Table 1: Bauxite Residue Composition

Compositions, % Refinery 1 Refinery 2 Refinery 3
Fe
2
O
3
(Dry Basis) 40 40 65
TiO
2
9 15 6
SiO
2
11 8 5
Al
2
O
3
20 18 18
Na
2
O 7 6 3
Moisture (As is Basis) 35 35 45
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Though the elements are reported as in their oxide form in the above table, many of them are
indeed present in complex form. This is especially true for silica and sodium. Major part of
silica present in bauxite react with caustic during the process of alumina extraction and
reprecipitate as a complex sodium aluminium silicate, which is commonly referred to as
Bayer sodalite. Iron is present as hematite (Fe
2
O
3
) and goethite (FeOOH). Some aluminium
is substituted into the goethite lattice to form [(FeAl)OOH]. Some bauxites do contain a
small amount of calcium minerals. During the Bayer process, lime compounds are
deliberately added to aid liquor filtration to control phosphates, to stabilise liquor with respect
to alumina and to causticise the liquor for the conversion of carbonates into hydroxides.
Thus, it is seen BR is indeed a complex mixture of many different elements.

Bauxite is ground to fine sizes in order to maximise alumina extraction. Since alumina
extraction takes place at elevated temperatures under pressure in closed vessels, whereas BR
is separated under atmospheric conditions, the pressure of the whole slurry is reduced in a
series of flash vessels. This action of flashing further reduces the size of BR particles. The
overall effect of these is that BR generated is very fine in size of about 3-5 micron in average
size. A sample of particle size distribution of BR is given in Figure 1.


Figure 1: Particle Size Distribution of Bauxite Residue

The solids content of the slurries or cake generated by the refineries after the solid-liquid
separation step ranges from 40% to upto 65%. Of late, pressure filters are being installed so
that the solids content is increased to 75-80% level.

Alumina extraction by the Bayer process is over 120 years old. During all these years and
even today, apart from a miniscule of quantity, all the BR generated has been stored or
dumped in suitably constructed ponds called Residue Disposal Areas (RDA), initially as a
slurry in wet ponds and later as thickened pastes or cakes. This has been the case all over the
world. There have been some cases like in Japan and France wherein the BR slurry is
pumped deep into the sea and discharged.
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The Issues

There are chiefly four major ways in which BR can be handled. These are (1) Continuation
of present practices of storage, (2) Part utilisation of BR generated henceforth, (3) Complete
utilisation of BR generated henceforth, and (4) Part or complete utilisation of the BR
inventory accumulated over the years.

There are a number of issues that arise with respect to any of the above listed ways of
handling BR. These issues may be related to just one aspect of the above or more of the
categories. Following section lists and discusses the various issues in detail, not in any
particular order.

a. Environmental Risks: Since BR is stored in dams, there is always a big risk that some
portion of the dams gives way and lead to flow of the BR slurry onto nearby areas. The
extent of area which may be directly affected depends on the flow properties of the slurry
as well as the extent of damage and other conditions. When this risk becomes a reality
as happened on 4 Oct 2010 at Ajka refinery in Hungary the damage caused is
enormous.

The practice of dumping BR slurry into the sea affects the marine life and hence the
concerned alumina refineries have been told to stop the practice and to change over to
other modes of disposal. In the absence of any other viable option, some of these
refineries, especially in Japan, face the consequence of having to suspend the plant
operation in a few years from now.

b. Volume: The single most important issue related to BR is the large quantity which is
generated every year at about 120 million tonnes level. Whether it is for the
continuation of the current practices or for the utilisation of BR for any new application,
the large quantity becomes an impediment. More and more areas need to be developed
into safe storage areas that increase the cost of BR handling for the alumina refinery.

Without substantial quantity of BR being utilised for any combination of applications, the
alumina refineries do not see any incentive to pump in investments required for
after-generation treatment of BR essential for the utilisation. A partial small level
utilisation does not reduce the refineries risks and responsibility for the safe storage of the
major portion of BR generated.

c. pH and Presence of Soda: For many of the applications, the high pH of the BR slurry/
cake due to the presence of soda both in combined form as sodalite and in the
accompanying liquor which is decided based on the economics of washing is an issue.
This needs to be suitably controlled using different processes / additives which then
results in increased cost for the refinery or the processor.

d. Performance of BR: If BR is to be used for any particular application as an alternative
to an existing material, it has to be competitive with respect to quality and cost. For
example, if BR is to be used for extracting iron values, BR must be evaluated vis--vis
conventional iron ores.

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e. Logistics and Cost: Other than a few exceptions, most of the alumina refineries and
hence the BR generation points are located in remote areas far away from any of the other
industries. In high volume, low-technology applications of BR, the cost of transportation
of BR to the user industry then becomes prohibitive making the whole proposal
uneconomical.

For high end applications like recovery of titanium, Rare Earth Element or other Rare
Metal values, the cost of processing BR like predisposal methods (reduction of
alkalinity) or additional downstream processing becomes very prohibitive.

The Opportunities and Future Directions

After having studied the issues related to the handling of BR, it is now time to look at the
opportunities that arise with respect to the use of BR for various applications. The
opportunities are mainly to exploit the inherent constituents and the characteristics of BR.
Over the years, a large number of studies have been undertaken worldwide in laboratory,
pilot as well as in commercial scale levels. The following is the list of some of the
opportunities with BR, not in any particular order.
a) As a raw material for cement
b) As a pozzolanic additive in cement
c) For the preparation of special cement
d) Recovery of iron values to make cast iron and steel
e) Recovery of Titanium values
f) Recovery of minor metals like gallium and vanadium
g) Recovery of other trace metals like selenium etc.
h) As an additive in plastic pipes, roofing sheets etc.
i) For making geo-polymer composites
j) As a component of bricks and blocks for construction industry
k) As an adsorbent in waste water treatment
l) Natural fibre reinforced polymer composites
m) Advanced ceramics in combination with fly ash
n) As a catalyst for hydrocarbon cracking

There are over 1000 patents and 3000 technical papers on the utilisation of red mud. Many
new ideas emerge periodically. Keeping all the above in view and also considering the main
issue with respect to bauxite residue i.e. the very high volume that is being generated every
year, it is expected that the following applications render themselves as likely opportunities
for industrial scale implementation.

1. Recovery of Iron: As explained earlier, some BR contains iron oxide to a level of 65%.
Use of pyrometallurgical processing technology to treat BR and obtain cast iron and slag
products has been reported. Industrial scale units are being worked upon. In a few years
from now, it is possible that one or more such units are set up in India.

2. Use of BR as Raw Meal in Cement Manufacture: This is one of the very few areas in
which industrial scale use of BR has already been achieved. As a raw meal in cement
manufacture, BR is typically used as source of iron and aluminium and the final product
is generally the OPC Ordinary Portland Cement. There have been many research
programmes over the past eighty years or so on the possibility of using BR as an
iron source in cement. Industrially, BR is used as raw meal for cement manufacture in
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at least nine countries including India, China and Russia. In India, Malco has supplied
BR from its Mettur alumina refinery to the nearby cement plants, and recently Hindalcos
Belgaum alumina refinery has been supplying BR to a level of about 40000 tonnes per
annum.

The Alumina Technology Roadmap prepared by International Aluminium Institute and
updated in 2010 has a strategic goal of utilising 20% of bauxite residue by the year 2025. It is
expected that the balance of the residue generated will continued to be stored as at present.
These as well as all legacy residue already in store need to be remediated and rehabilitated
using various means including process-generated CO
2
. Some effort is already underway in
some of the sites like Belgaum alumina refinery, as shown below. It is required that the total
footprint rehabilitated is increased substantially in the years to come.



Fig 2 (a): Abandoned Red mud pond then Fig 2 (b): Re-vegetated pond now

Is there any other way in which bauxite residue issues can be eliminated altogether, rather
than only minimise them? From the discussions enumerated above, it is clear that this is
possible only if the generation of bauxite residue is avoided in the first place while extracting
alumina from bauxite through suitable technology. Research on the use of acid leaching
process in place of the traditional Bayer process has indeed been done by many companies
during the past 50 years. Due to very high energy requirements and the need for special
materials essential to withstand the severe acidic conditions, this process was not found
economical all these years and hence, the development had been abandoned. With the
depletion of the quality of bauxite ore and advancement in materials technology, there has
been some revival of interest in this alternative technology. There are reports that a company
in Canada has indeed developed this technology in pilot scale addressing all the technical
issues and the process is ready for exploitation on a commercial scale. Apart from alumina,
this process recovers iron, titanium, silica and other minor and trace elements also separately
and hence, it is claimed that there is no generation of bauxite residue. The commercial
viability of this process is yet to be fully appreciated by the alumina industry. It may be quite
a few years for this to be adopted as an alternative to Bayer process.

It is to be understood that even if this technology becomes the order of the day at a future
date, the alumina refineries currently producing about 100 Mt/a in total throughout the world
will continue to function and continue to generate bauxite residue at the same level as now or
more due to increase in alumina production capacity and possible increase in bauxite residue
factor due to deterioration in bauxite quality. Hence, all the issues associated with bauxite
- 6 -
residues as explained above would persist and hence, efforts are required to address them
suitably.

Conclusion

There are many issues associated with bauxite residue, the main being the huge quantity of
generation running into more than hundred million tonnes per annum. There are many
possibilities for the use of bauxite residue on a technical level. Two of these namely, recovery
of iron and use as raw meal in cement production have been identified as possible
opportunities on a commercial level. It is essential that the residue storage is made
sustainable through remediation and increase in rehabilitation. It may be possible some day in
future that residue generation itself is avoided while recovering alumina from bauxite ore.
However, this will not have much impact on the existing alumina refineries which will
continue with the Bayer process for years to come.

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