Table of Contents

Introduction to
Bauxite.................................................................
....pg 2
Introduction to
Aluminium.............................................................
.pg 3
Converting Bauxite to
Alumina.......................................................pg 4
Converting Alumina to
Aluminium................................................pg 9
Conclusion............................................................
............................pg 11
Appendix...............................................................
............................pg 12
Bibliography..........................................................
...........................pg 13

Introduction to Bauxite
Bauxite was discovered by Pierre Berthier in 1821
and was named after the French village of Les Beaux,
where it was first recognized as an aluminium ore.
Bauxite is not a mineral, it is a group of aluminium
oxides. In fact, it is a sedimentary rock. Bauxite is a
heterogeneous
material
with
a
composition
fundamentally consisting of aluminium hydroxide,
hydrous aluminium oxides, clay minerals and insoluble
materials such as quartz, hematite, magnetite, siderite
and goethite. The aluminium minerals in bauxite can
include: gibbsite Al(OH)3, boehmite AlO(OH) and diaspore
Al(OH)3. The basic chemical formula for bauxite is AlOH3.
Bauxite
gray,
yellow,
pink,
Bauxite
opaque
Bauxite
for
of
but can

be white ,
stained
orange-red,
brown.
usually dull,
earthy.
mostly used
production
aluminium,
be used as an abrasive.

can
or
is
and
is
the
also

Introduction to Aluminium
The name 'Aluminium' was coined by English chemist
Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829), from the Latin words
'alumen' or 'alum' which literally means bitter salt,
because it was recognised as a whitish mineral salt.
Aluminium is used in a huge variety of products
including cans, foils, kitchen utensils, window frames and
aeroplane parts. This is because of its particular
properties. It has low density, is non-toxic, has a high
thermal conductivity, has excellent corrosion resistance
and can be easily cast, machined and formed. It is also
non-magnetic and non-sparking. It is the second most
malleable metal and the sixth most ductile.
It is often used as an alloy because aluminium itself
is not particularly strong. Alloys with copper, manganese,
magnesium and silicon are lightweight but strong. They
are very important in the construction of aeroplanes and
other forms of transport.
Aluminium is a good electrical conductor and is often
used in electrical transmission lines. It is cheaper than
copper and is a good conductor.
When evaporated in a vacuum, aluminium forms a
highly reflective coating for both light and heat. It does
not deteriorate, like a silver coating would. These
aluminium coatings have many uses, including telescope
mirrors, decorative paper, packages and toys.

STAGE 1:
CONVERTING BAUXITE TO ALUMINA

FAC
T:

FOUR TONS OF BAUXITE ARE

REQUIRED TO PRODUCE TWO
TONS OF ALUMINA.

The five major steps in converting bauxite to alumina are:

STEP 1: CRUSHING AND GRINDING
Alumina recovery begins by passing the bauxite
through screens to sort it by size. It is then crushed to
produce relatively uniformly sized material. The ore is
then fed into large grinding mills and mixed with a caustic
soda solution (sodium hydroxide) at high temperature
and pressure. The grinding mill rotates while steel rods rolling around loose inside the mill - grind the ore to an
even finer consistency. The material that is discharged
from the mill is called 'slurry'.
The resulting liquid contains a solution of sodium
aluminate and undissolved bauxite residues containing
iron, silicon, and titanium. These residues -also known as
"red mud" - gradually sink to the bottom of the tank and
are then removed.

STEP 2: DIGESTING
The slurry is pumped to a digester where the
chemical reaction to dissolve the alumina takes place. In
the digester, the slurry - under 50 pounds per square inch
pressure - is heated to 300 Fahrenheit (145 Celsius). It
remains in the digester under those conditions from 30
minutes to several hours.
More caustic soda is added to dissolve aluminium
containing compounds in the slurry. Undesirable
compounds either don't dissolve in the caustic soda, or
combine with other compounds to create a scale on
equipment
which must
be
periodically
cleaned.
The
digestion
process
produces a
sodium
aluminate
solution.
Because all
of this takes
place in a
pressure
cooker, the
slurry
is
pumped
into a series
6

of "flash tanks" to reduce the pressure and heat before it

is transferred into "settling tanks."

STEP 3:

SETTLING

Settling
is
achieved
primarily by using gravity, although some chemicals are
added to aid the process. Just as a glass of sugar water
with fine sand suspended in it will separate over time, the
impurities in the slurry - things like sand and iron and
other trace elements that do not dissolve - will eventually
settle to the bottom.

The liquid at the top of the tank is now directed

through a series of filters. After washing to recover
alumina and caustic soda, the remaining red mud is
pumped into large storage ponds where it is dried by
evaporation.
The alumina in the still warm liquor consists of tiny,
suspended crystals. However there are still some very
fine, solid impurities that must be removed.
The giant-sized filters consist of a series of "leaves" big cloth filters over steel frames - which remove much of
the remaining solids in the liquid. The material caught by
the filters is known as a "filter cake" and is washed to
remove alumina and caustic soda. The filtered liquid - a
sodium aluminate solution - is then cooled and pumped
to the "precipitators."

STEP 4: PRECIPITATION
Imagine a tank as tall as a six-story building. Now
imagine row after row of those tanks called precipitators.
The clear sodium aluminate from the settling and filtering
operation is pumped into these precipitators. Fine
particles of alumina - called "seed crystals" (alumina
hydrate) - are added to start the precipitation of pure
alumina particles as the liquid cools. Alumina crystals
begin to grow around the seeds, then settle to the bottom
of the tank where they are removed and transferred to
"thickening tanks." Finally, it is filtered again then
transferred via conveyor to the "calcination kilns."

STEP 5: CALCINATION
Calcination is a heating process to remove the
chemically combined water from the alumina hydrate.
That's why, once the hydrated alumina is calcined, it is
referred to as anhydrous alumina. "Anhydrous" meaning
"without water."
From precipitation, the hydrate is filtered and washed
to rinse away impurities and remove moisture. A
continuous conveyor system delivers the hydrate into the
calcining kiln. The calcining kiln is brick-lined inside and
gas-fired to a temperature of 2,000 F or 1,100 C. It
slowly rotates (to make sure the alumina dries evenly)
and is mounted on a tilted foundation which allows the
alumina to move through it to cooling equipment.
However, newer plants use a method called fluid bed
calcining where alumina particles are suspended above a
screen by hot air and then calcined.
The result is a white powder: pure alumina. The caustic
soda is returned to the beginning of the process and used
again.

10

AT THIS POINT, THE ALUMINA IS

READY FOR CONVERSION INTO
ALUMINIUM AT A SMELTER, ALUMINA
IS ALSO USED IN MAKING CHEMICAL
AND CERAMICS.

Stage 2:
CONVERTING ALUMINA TO ALUMINIUM

FACT:

TWO TONS OF ALUMINA ARE REQUIRED

TO MAKE ONE TON OF ALUMINIUM.

The steps which must occur in order for alumina to be

converted to metallic aluminium are:
SMELTING:
Molten cryolite (a sodium aluminium fluoride mineral)
could be used to dissolve alumina and the resulting
chemical reaction would produce metallic aluminium. This
is known as The Hall-Heroult process.
The Hall-Heroult process takes place in a large
carbon or graphite lined steel container called a "
reduction pot". In most plants, the pots are lined up in
long rows, called 'pot lines'.
11

The key to the chemical reaction necessary to convert the

alumina to metallic aluminium is the running of an
electrical current through the cryolite/alumina mixture.
The process requires the use of direct current (DC). The
immense amounts of power required to produce
aluminium is the reason why aluminium plants are almost
always located in areas where affordable electrical power
is readily available.
When the electric current passes through the
mixture, the carbon of the anode combines with the
oxygen in the alumina. The chemical reaction produces
metallic aluminium and carbon dioxide. The molten
aluminium settles to the bottom of the pot where it is
periodically siphoned off into crucibles while the carbon
dioxide escapes. Very little cryolite is lost in the process,
and the alumina is constantly replenished from storage
containers above the reduction pots.
The metal is now ready to be forged, turned into
alloys, or moulded into the shapes and forms necessary
to make appliances, electronics, automobiles and other
familiar, useful items.
Aluminium is formed at about 900 C, but once
formed has a melting point of only 660 C.
The smelting process required to produce aluminium
from the alumina is continuous, the pot line is usually
kept in production 24 hours a day year-round. A smelter
cannot easily be stopped and restarted. If production is
interrupted by a power supply failure of more than four
hours, the metal in the pots will solidify, often requiring
an expensive rebuilding process. The cost of building a
typical, modern smelter is about $1.6 billion.
12

Most smelters produce aluminium that is 99.7% pure.

However, 99.99% pure aluminium is required for some
special applications, typically those where high ductility
or conductivity is required.

Conclusion
In conclusion, through this assignment, we learned
that it is one of the most important resources in the
world. In our research, it was also found that aluminium is
produced using bauxite. When taking into account the
vast array of products which are aluminium based, this
process has proven to be not only important, but
essential to our lives.

13

Appendix

14

Bibliography
Hobart M. King, Ph.D., Bradley Cole, and Angela King.
Bauxite. 2005. http://geology.com/minerals/bauxite.shtml
(accessed April 25th, 2015).
Alchin, Linda. The Periodic Table: The Element Aluminium.
March 1, 2015. http://www.elementalmatter.info/elementaluminium.htm (accessed May 5, 2015).

15

Aluminum, Reynolds, and ALCOA Aluminum: Aluminum

Institute. How Aluminum is Produced. May 16, 1999.
www.rocksandminerals.com/aluminum/process.htm
(accessed April 27, 2015).

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