A STATE OF ART AND PROSPECTS OF RED MUD MANAGEMENT

Abstract

The basic data on the global volumes and composition of red mud, which is a highly alkaline waste of the aluminum industry, namely the Bayer process – technology for the extraction and purification of alumina (aluminum oxide) from bauxite are presented. The analysis of the current state of red mud management allows to distinguish the following main directions: physical-mechanical, physical-chemical, biological and combined methods of handling it, which are used in agriculture (chemical land reclamation (increasing soil pH), use as fertilizers); building materials industry (cement, construction mortar, expanded clay, fireclay, bricks, building blocks, ceramic tiles, concrete alkali-acid-resistant products, refractories); road construction (soil strengthening for the lower layers of the road surface, asphalt); production of other materials (sorbents, catalysts, flocculants, pigments, caustic soda, filler for polymer composites); ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy. Currently, the most common methods of red mud utilization are its direct use, use in the construction materials industry, as well as pyrometallurgical technologies, as a result of which iron or its alloys are obtained, as well as slag, from which alumina, titanium, rare earth metals can be extracted or which is processed into various building materials. The most expedient method of red mud disposal is either direct use of red mud with minimal changes in its properties, or complex processing with maximum yield of target components and minimization of new waste generation. At the same time, one of the promising ways of red mud management can be its biological processing with the help of plants and microbes, which will help reduce the dangerous man-made load from red mud in the territory adjacent to bauxite processing plants. Bibl. 113, Fig. 2.