Abstract
Red mud (RM) is a by-product of extracting of alumina from bauxite. Red mud contains high quantities of alkali-generating minerals and metal ions, which can cause significant environmental damage. Many valuable components such as rare-earth elements, Al, and Fe, in RM are difficult to be utilized owing to their particle size and alkalinity. Thus, developing an economical and efficient technology to consume a large amount of RM can efficiently solve RM disposal issues. This paper systematically reviews the comprehensive utilization methods for reducing RM environmental pollution and divides the comprehensive utilization of RM into three aspects: the effective extraction of valuable components, resource transformation, and environmental application. Based on resource, economic, and environmental benefits, the development of new technologies and new processes with market competitiveness, environmental protection, and ecological balance should be the prerequisite for the low-energy, low-pollution, low-cost, and high-efficiency comprehensive utilization of RM. The direction of future research to solve RM disposal issues is also suggested.
Highlights
Bauxite residue is a strong alkaline solid waste discharged during the industrial production of alumina [1]
Utilizing the red mud (RM) discharged from the alumina production process is a worldwide problem
Considering that the properties of RM vary from the place of origin, treatment process, and other factors, a general process to recover a certain valuable component from RM cannot be formulated
Summary
Bauxite residue is a strong alkaline solid waste discharged during the industrial production of alumina [1]. The color of bauxite residue is red because of its rich iron (III) oxides, comprising approximately 20–40% of its mass [2]. This property explains its common name, red mud (RM) [3]. Much effort and various studies have been made to recycle these valuable components of RM through hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical methods, these methods are not effective for the large-scale utilization of RM until now [27,28,29,30]. The research progress of the comprehensive recovery of valuable metals and large-scale utilization of RM in recent years is summarized. The study aims to provide some suggest perspectives and valuable information for further investigation of RM
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