Red Mud from the Aluminium Industry: Production, Characteristics, and Alternative Applications in Construction Materials—A Review

Abstract

About 120 million tons of red mud is produced worldwide each year. Due to its high basicity and potential leaching, its storage is a critical environmental problem. This material is typically stored in dams, which demands prior care of the disposal area and includes monitoring and maintenance throughout its useful life. Consequently, it is crucial to figure out an industrial solution able to consumes large volumes of this material. At this moment, there are several studies, the majority in metallurgical procedures, building materials, and in the chemical industry, discussing how to reuse red mud. This paper provides a review of the aluminium process, including metal importance, its global production, and the environmental impact due to its manufacture process. It presents a review of the potential application of red mud showing its overall generation, some relevant characterisation results collected from the literature, and its utilisation in diverse areas of engineering. The study aimed to highlight applications where red mud characteristics may be favourable.

Overview of cement and concrete production in Latin America and the Caribbean with a focus on the goals of reaching carbon neutrality

“…The world's production of bauxite residues during aluminum production was estimated at 160 Mt in 2020 [89]. This residue consists of red mud produced in Brazil at 10.6 Mt/year [90].…”

A new catalyst based on disposed red mud for the efficient electrochemical reduction of nitrate-to-ammonia

“…Red mud (RM, also called bauxite residue) is a waste product from the aluminium industry. 1–3 Its global production has been over 100 million metric tons per year. 4,5 The lack of effective management solutions results in its disposal in landfills, thus raising many concerns about its ecological and environmental risks in view of its caustic nature and the presence of trace metals.…”

Scandium Recovery from Aqueous Solution by Adsorption Processes in Low-Temperature-Activated Alumina Products

“…Occupational safety and public health risks related to rare metals must be addressed and analysed for every metal in all the process stages: mining, transportation, processing and disposal, storage of waste and decommissioning of the equipment and production units. Many research papers targeting these issues recommend recovery instead of opening new mining operation units and the rapid return, as much as possible, toward a circular economy [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. Scandium is one of the most valuable metals in the rare metals category.…”