The History, Challenges, and New Developments in the Management and Use of Bauxite Residue

Abstract

The paper serves to briefly review the disposal and storage of bauxite residue from the late nineteenth century and discusses how the environmental aspects of storage and disposal have changed. The paper describes some of the remediation/rehabilitation trends and describes the success of a soil-free approach in Jamaica. The paper further discusses the development of uses for bauxite residue over the same period. In spite of over a century of effort looking for uses, over 1200 patents and hundreds of technically successful trials, less than 4 million tonnes of the 150 million tonnes of bauxite residue produced annually is used in a productive way. A large proportion of material that is used is in China and driven by government pressure. This paper discusses the barriers and why the technical successes do not always translate into largescale uses. The most successful large-scale uses are reviewed and include cement production, raw material for iron and steel manufacture, manufacture of building materials, landfill capping, road construction, and soil amelioration. Some of the more recent promising developments are also presented.

Recovery of Rare Earths and Other Valuable Metals From Bauxite Residue (Red Mud): A Review

“…Bauxite is the main aluminum ore and it is a mixture of the aluminum minerals such as gibbsite (Al(OH) 3 ), boehmite (c-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (a-AlO(OH)), as well as other minerals, such as hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ), goethite (FeO(OH)), quartz (SiO 2 ), rutile/anatase (TiO 2 ), and kaolinite (Al 2 Si 2 O 5 (OH) 4 ). Alumina must be purified before it can be used as a feed for the production of aluminum metal by electrolysis in the HallHéroult process.…”

“…Annually, about 140 million tons of bauxite residue are produced [4], while more than 2.7 9 10 9 tons [5] were already stockpiled by 2011. The cumulative amount of bauxite residue generated by 2015 is estimated to be close to 4 9 10 9 tons [6].…”

“…However, there are currently no applications of bauxite residue besides minor use in cement and ceramic production [1,5,8]. Bauxite residue has been reported to have several possible applications [4,5,9] in the field of pollution control (wastewater treatment, adsorption, and purification of acid waste gases), as a coagulant, adsorbent, and catalyst, in pigments and paints, in ceramic production, for soil amendment, metal recovery, and in building materials. However, none of these applications has been commercially exploited on an industrial scale yet [10].…”

Bauxite Residue Valorization and Best Practices: Preface for the Thematic Section and Some of the Work to Follow

“…The management of bauxite residue, also known as red mud, 1 continues to be a challenge for the alumina industry. More than 150 million tonnes of bauxite residue is produced annually, and a number of legacy sites still remain, asking for attention.…”

“…The work of Evans [1] sets the scene. It presents efforts of years, while giving a perspective for the future.…”