The Study of the Magnetic Properties of Red Mud from Alumina Production after Alkaline Treatment

Abstract

In Russia, the main feedstock for producing aluminum is bauxite. During the processing of 1 ton of bauxite into alumina (Al2O3), up to 0.5–0.6 ton of techno-genic waste is formed, that is red mud. It is not currently disposed of and accumulated in mud tailing dumps. It contains valuable components: Al – 8 %; Fe – 25 %; Ti – 2.4 % and it can be considered as a potential raw material for ferrous metallurgy and as a source of vanadium, titanium, and rare-earth elements (REE) Sc, Y, La. The paper shows the possibility of obtaining red mud with an increased iron content of up to 36 %, with an additional extraction of aluminum. Red mud from the Ural Aluminum Plant (Russia) is considered. It is proposed to direct this mud to the production of pellets for the production of cast iron. To extract aluminum from red mud, it is proposed to process the mud in a highly alkaline medium by sintering in the temperature range 300–600 °C. The resulting sinter is leached with water or a slightly alkaline solution with the conversion of aluminum compounds into solution. The red mud, obtained this way, exhibits magnetic properties. A magnetic separation was carried out, and the yield of the magnetic fraction is 79.87 %. The iron content increases by 25 % and amounts to 51.88 % of Fe2O3.