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TRENDS IN RED MUD

UTILIZATION – A REVIEW
a a a
R. K. PARAMGURU , P. C. RATH & V. N. MISRA
a
Regional Research Laboratory, Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research, Bhubaneswar, India
Version of record first published: 31 Aug 2006.

To cite this article: R. K. PARAMGURU, P. C. RATH & V. N. MISRA (2004): TRENDS

IN RED MUD UTILIZATION – A REVIEW, Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy
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TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION ^ A REVIEW

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R. K. PARAMGURU
P. C. RATH
V. N. MISRA
Regional Research Laboratory,
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research,
Bhubaneswar, India

Red mud is the major waste material produced during alumina production
following the Bayers process. Depending on the quality of the raw material
processed, 1 2.5 tons of red mud is generated per ton of alumina produced.
The treatment and disposal of this residue is a major operation in an alumina
plant. A lot of research and developmental activities are going on throughout
the world to find effective utilization of red mud, which involves various
product developments. This article attempts to review these developments.

Keywords: red mud, characterization, bulk utilization, mud reclamation,

metal recovery, product development, utilization strategy

Aluminium metal is commercially produced from bauxite ore through two

main process steps. In the first, alumina is obtained by the Bayers process
(Chinloy and Holzwarth 1984) and in the second, the alumina is electrolyzed
in a Hall Heroult cell (Hall 1889) to yield aluminum metal. Production of
alumina from bauxite by the Bayer’s process is associated with the genera-
tion of red mud as the major waste material. Depending on the quality of
bauxite, the quantity of red mud generated varies from 55 65% of the
bauxite processed. Bauxite ore mined globally amounts to 110 MTPY in
1994 (Lovalou et al. 1999), 125 MTPY in 1998 (Hausberg et al. 2001), and is

Address correspondence to R. K. Paramguru, Electrometallurgy Deptartment,

Regional Research Lab., Bhubaneswar, Orissa, 751013, India. E-mail: drrkparamguru@
hotmail.com

1
 2 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

expected to be around 145 MTPY at the moment. This indicates the

quantum of red mud generated worldwide. Based on economic as well as
environment-related issues, enormous efforts have been directed worldwide
toward red mud management issues of utilization, storage, and disposal.
This article makes an attempt to view the red mud situation from a practical
angle, rather than making an academic assessment of its utilization potential.
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BAUXITE CHARACTERIZATION
Bauxite is a generic term applied to a naturally occurring mixture of
minerals rich in hydrated aluminum oxides. The deposits are formed due to
in situ weathering of different rock types for which a number of other
minerals also coexist in the deposit. The principal constituent of bauxite is
aluminum oxide. Major impurities are the oxides of iron, silicon, and
titanium while elements such as zinc, phosphorous, nickel, and vanadium
are found in trace amounts. The mineralogical characteristics of the bauxite
ore determine the type of process needed for alumina production. As far as
aluminium-containing minerals are concerned, it is important to note
whether 1) Gibbsite, 2) Boehmite, or 3) Diasporic mineralogy is dominant.
This determines the type of leaching operation to be adopted. The world’s
metallurgical bauxite production during 1994, as per this mineralogy listed
in Table 1 (Lovalou et al. 1999). The presence of silica is also significant,
since the active silica (in the form of Kaolinite) consumes soda for which
desilication is needed. Similarly, the minerals of iron, such as goethite,
haematite, magnetite, or ilmenite and minerals of titanium such as rutile or
anatase, indicate how the ore behaves in the dissolution process.
Chemical compositions of some deposits are presented in Tables 2
(Capron 1998) and 3 (Mohapatra et al. 2000), along with the mineral
forms in Table 4.

LEACHING CHEMISTRY
In the Bayers process, the bauxite ore is digested in a solution of caustic
soda (NaOH). During caustic digestion, aluminum oxide, because of its
amphoteric character, passes into solution as soluble sodium aluminate.

Al2 O3 :xH2 O þ 2NaOH ! 2NaAlO2 þ ðx þ 1ÞH2 O: ð1Þ

This process is far more efficient when the ore is reduced to a very fine
particle size prior to the reaction. However, the digestion conditions are
 TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION 3

Table 1. World metallurgical bauxite production (thousand metric tons): Lovalou et al.
1999. G, B, and D stand for Gibsitic, Boehmitic, and Diasporic type Bauxite,
respectively

Country Ore type 1994

Australia G & B (20%) 41 700

Brazil G 8120
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P. R. China D 3700
Ghana G 426
Greece D 2200
Guinea B & D (10%) 14 400
Guyana G 2100
Hungary B 900
India G 5400
Indonesia G 1300
Jamaica G 11 700
Malaysia G 162
Romania D 184
Sierra Leone G 735
Suriname G 3440
Turkey D 500
USSR (ex) B 5430
Venezuela G 4790
Yogoslavia (ex) B 85
Others D 192
Total world 106 864
Total G (Gibbsitic) 69.6% 74 413
Total B (Boehmitic) 24.6% 26 275
Total D (Diasporic) 5.8% 6176

influenced by the nature of bauxite, particularly the mineralogical form

of the alumina containing phases. The ease of digestion in caustic soda
decreases in the order.

Gibbsite Al2 O3 :3H2 O þ 2NaOH ! 2NaAlO2 þ 4H2 O ð135
150o CÞ ð2Þ

Boehmite Al2 O3 :H2 O þ 2NaOH ! 2NaAlO2 þ 2H2 O ð205
245o CÞ ð3Þ

Diaspore Al2 O3 :H2 O þ 2NaOH ! 2NaAlO2 þ 2H2 O ðhigh T & PÞ: ð4Þ

In general, the equilibrium in the above moves to the right with an

increase in caustic soda concentration. In fact, Gibbsite extraction is very
fast and occurs within minutes.
 4 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

Table 2. Analyses of some bauxite samples (Capron 1998)

Compound N. JAM BRI GUY GPI SUR S. JAM

TAA, % 47.22 48.26 52.22 49.81 50.91 43.34

MHA, % 1.68 0.35 0.90 2.68 0.54 5.13
THA, % 45.54 47.91 51.32 47.13 50.37 38.21
Fe2O3, % 18.65 10.03 4.38 12.49 9.58 19.11
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LOI, % 27.30 28.69 28.26 28.27 29.45 26.34

Total SiO2 1.09 5.16 5.18 5.32 2.74 1.26
Quartz, % 0.51 1.04 1.39 1.26 1.25 0.15
MnO, % 0.46 0.06 0.06 0.07 0.06 0.26
CaO, % 0.21 0.12 0.11 0.12 0.25 0.77
P2O5, % 0.25 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.30
ZnO, % 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.026
TiO2, % 1.80 0.52 1.30 0.60 1.88 1.73
R.SiO2, % 0.58 4.12 3.79 4.06 1.49 1.11
Moisture,% 17.28 9.22 10.42 10.73 12.16 20.27

N.JAM: North Coast Jamaican bauxite; BRI; Indonesian bauxite located at the Baton
Rouge, LA depot; GUY: Guyana bauxite located at the Baton Rouge, LA depot; GPI:
Indonesian bauxite located at the Gulfport, MS depot; SUR: Surinam bauxite located at
the Theodore, AL depot; S. JAM: South Coast Jamaican bauxite located at the Gramercy
depot; TAA: Total available alumina; THA: Trihydrate available alumina; MHA: Mono-
hydrate available alumina (TAA7THA); R.SiO2: Reactive silica in Kaolinite reacts with
caustic to form sodium silicate and sodium aluminate.

Crystalline alumina hydrate is extracted from the digestion liquor by

hydrolysis.

2NaAlO2 þ 4H2 O ! Al2 O3 :3H2 O þ 2NaOH: ð5Þ

This basically is the reverse of the digestion process. In this step, the
adjustment of precipitation conditions such as type of seed material,
temperature of precipitation, and cooling rate can control the nature of
the product.
Caustic soda also dissolves the silica to form sodium silicate, which
can contaminate the alumina. Hence, it is necessary to control the silica.
This is generally carried out during or prior to the digestion step and
involves the dissolution of kaolinite, which dissolves under the moderate
Gibbsite dissolution conditions

Al2 O3 :SiO2 :2H2 O þ 4NaOH ! Na2 SiO3 þ 2NaAlO2 þ 4H2 O: ð6Þ

 TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION 5

Table 3. Major, minor, and trace element constituents of a typical India bauxite ore
(Mohapatra et al. 2000)

Constituent Wt% Constituent ppm Constituent ppm

Al2O3 41.60 Sc 8.57 Sr 5.27

Fe2O3 26.90 V 91.44 Y 2.77
SiO2 2.54 Cr 84.75 Nb 12.52
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TiO2 3.00 Co 2.32 Cs 0.23

P2O5 0.17 Ni 5.41 Ba 23.52
MnO2 0.15 Cu 12.34 Hf 3.32
Na2O 0.37 Zn 19.62 Ta 10.64
K2O 0.06 Ga 40.83 Pb 8.51
CaO 0.03 Rb 35.70 Th 35.14
MgO 0.13 Zr 46.36 U 2.55

The reaction of kaonilite silica gives rise to appreciable loss of caustic

soda, but the quartz is very less reactive under these conditions and
passes into the red mud.
Desilication is then done via precipitation of sodalite.

2Na2 SiO3 þ 2NaAlO2 þ 2H2 O ! Na2 O:Al2 O3 :2SiO2 þ 4NaOH: ð7Þ

Dissolution is necessary to supersaturate the liquid to a point where the

sodalite formed acts as a seed to precipitate more sodalite. The rate of

Table 4. Mineral forms of some major and minor elements present in bauxite

Element Mineral Appx. Formula

Al Gibbsite a-Al2O3.3H2O
Boehmite a-Al2O3.H2O
Diaspore b-Al2O3.H2O
Fe Goethite a-FeOOH
Hematite a-Fe2O3
Magnetite Fe3O4
Ilmenite FeO.TiO2
Si Kaolinite Al2O3. 2SiO2. 3H2O
Quartz SiO2
Sillimanite Al2O3. 3SiO2. 2H2O
Halloysite
Ti Anatase TiO2
Rutile TiO2
 6 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

precipitation is found to increase with temperature, but at the Gibbsite

digestion temperature, i.e., 130 150 C, the rate is very slow. Hence, it is
necessary to hold the material at the digestion temperature long enough
to allow the silica to precipitate. The product of reaction (7) is known as
the combined soda.
The basic iron oxides formed in the digestion process remain essen-
tially insoluble, but fine-grained iron reacts at a high temperature,
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particularly in the presence of lime. Aluminum locked in the goethite

does not dissolve. The titanium-containing phases are insoluble in caus-
tic, but are partially soluble at high temperature, especially anatase and
amorphous titania. Most alumina producers add lime at some point in
the process and the lime forms a number of compounds that end up with
the bauxite residue. The dissolved titania reacts with Na and Ca to
form insoluble titanates
When aluminum is present as monohydrate, i.e. as Boehmite or
Diaspore, it has to be digested at a high temperature (240 300 C) and
pressure. When there is a mixture of Gibbsite and Boehmite, then double
digestion is required. With a view to hydrate quality improvement at the
Kaiser Aluminium & Chemical Co., Gramercy, Louisiana, (Blankenship
1999), the process adopted is a high-temperature (243 C) monohydrate
digestion followed by a low-temperature (150 C) trihydrate ‘‘sweetening’’
step to build the alumina to caustic ratio (A=C). In another development,
Pechiney Aluminium (Lamerant 2002) uses double digestion to treat
Boke bauxite at Gardannes’s Bayer Plant. The first digestion at
140 150 C solubilizes alumina from the trihydrate, but is associated with
the simultaneous precipitation of monohydrate due to the high
boehmite content of muds (about 30%). Hence, the monohydrate is
dissolved in a second step at 225 240 C.
Diasporic bauxite needs a high temperature and high-pressure
digestion. A recent study by Zhao et al. (2002) indicated economic dis-
solution of diasphoric bauxite at 280 C in the Bayers process using lime
addition of over 16% of Bauxite. Na2O in red mud still remains less than
2.5%.

CHARACTERISTICS OF RED MUD

Red mud, as the name suggests, is brick red in color and slimy, having
an average particle size of <10 mm. A few particles of greater than
20 mm are also available. It is comprised of the iron, titanium, and
 TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION 7

silica part of the parent ore along with other minor constituents.
About 35% by weight of solids contain less than 5 mm and about 80%
less than 8 mm in the red mud of the NALCO refinery, Damanjodi
(Mohapatra et al. 2000). It is alkaline, thixotropic, and possesses high
surface area in the range of 13
16 m2=g with a true density of
3.30 g=cc.
The leaching chemistry of bauxite suggests that the physical and
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chemical properties of red mud depend primarily on the bauxite used

and, to a lesser extent, the manner in which the bauxite is processed by
the Bayer’s process technology. Residues from different bauxite have a
wide range of composition: Fe2O3, 20
60%; Al2O3, 10
30%; SiO2,
2
20%; Na2O, 2
10%; CaO, 2
8%; TiO2, traces —28%. Detailed
characterization of red mud generated from NALCO aluminum refinery
at Damanjodi, India, is reported by Mohapatra et al. (2000) and of some
other sources by various authors (Solimar et al. 1992; Sahin 1998; Wang
et al. 1998). The important parameters that have significance in its further
handling, disposal, and use are 1) moisture content, 2) rheology, 3) sur-
face area, 4) particle size, 5) mineralogy, 6) contents of valuable metals, 7)
presence of rare earth metals, and 8) presence of toxic substances, etc.
Composition of red mud samples from some randomly selected locations
is given in Table 5 (Thakur and Das 1994).

UTILIZATION OF RED MUD

Until today, almost all over the world, red mud is disposed from the plant
site in two main ways, depending on the facilities available and the sur-
roundings. In countries such as France, England, Germany, or Japan,
where there is availability of land and sea for dumping nearby, the
practice is to discharge the mud into the sea. Where free land is available
nearby, the mud is pumped into pools and ponds constructed for this
purpose. The water overflowing from the ponds after the mud is settled is
recycled to the plant for partial recovery of the alkali carried away with
the mud and the solid is left for sun drying. Before proceeding to possible
solutions for the recovery and use of red mud, it is pertinent to have a
brief discussion on the issues of environmental concerns, red mud
dewatering, and disposal status, since they are interlinked.
Red mud is not a particularly toxic material (Nunn 1998). In fact, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not classify it as a
hazardous waste (EPA. U.S. Code 1990). Brown and Kirkpatrick (1999)
 8 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

Table 5. Composition of red mud generated in plants of different parts of the world

Major constituents, wt%

Country Fe2O3 Al2O3 TiO2 SiO2 Na2O

India Al. Corp. 20.26 19.60 28.00 6.74 8.09

MALCO 45.17 27.00 5.12 5.70 3.64
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HINDALCO 35046 23.00 17.20 5.00 4.85

BALCO 33.80 15.58 22.50 6.84 5.20
NALCO* 52.39 14.73 3.30 8.44 4.00

Hungary 38.45 15.20 4.60 10.15 8.12
Jamaica 50.9 14.20 6.87 3.40 3.18
Surinam 24.81 19.00 12.15 11.90 9.29(EM)
USA ALCOA Mobile 30.40 16.20 10.11 11.14 2
Arkansas 55.6 12.15 4.5 4.50 1.5
5.0
Sherwon 50.54 11.13 Traces 2.56 9.00
FRG Baudart 38.75 20.00 5.5 13.00 8.16
Taiwan 41.30 20.21 2.90 17.93 3.8
Australia 40.50 27.70 3.50 19.90 1
2

*From Mahapatra et al. (2000).

apply that toxic characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), an EPA test

procedure designed to determine the morbidity of wastes, and multiple
extraction procedures (MEP), conducted at Tulane University,
New Orleans, LA, (Liu 1998; Liu, Hope, and Reimers 1996; Liu, Reimers,
and Yang 1996) on the red mud of Kaiser Aluminium & Chemical Cor-
poration, Gramercy, conformed this aspect. Concentrations of all metal
species were well below the EPA regulatory threshold and drinking water
standards. In reality, then the environmental concerns relate to two
aspects: the very large quantity of the red mud generated and its caus-
ticity. As already indicated, a typical alumina plant produces large
amount of red mud. In addition, up to 2 tons of liquor at 5
20 gpl caustic
(as Na2CO3) accompany every ton of dry mud solids. Nguyen and Boger
(1998), discussing the red mud production and disposal problems in
Australia, whose aluminum production constitutes 32% of world
production and the red mud generation is 50% of that in the world
(ABARE 1995), indicated that the treatment and disposal of red mud is a
major operation and may account for 30
50% of operations in an
alumina refinery. Dewatering and disposal technologies assume great
significance.
 TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION 9

Status of Red Mud DewateringTechnology

Historically, thickeners were employed for dewatering the red mud, since
the inception of alumina production by the Bayer’s process as caustic loss
was to be minimized to keep the alumina production cost minimum. The
typical concentration of the mud slurries for disposal ranged between
20
30%, based on the settling characteristics of the mud. The amount of
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free caustic left in the mud stream was controlled by the number of
washing stages working out to an economic optimum of 5
10 gpl caustic
(as Na2CO3) (Nunn 1998). During early 1960s, rotary drum filters
appeared in the scene as the final mud dewatering device prior to
disposal. They work well with the good filtering, mud, such as that
of Weipa, not so well with the bad ones containing very fine, poor
filtering mud such as that of Jamaica. Since the operating pressure drop
across the filter medium is less (around 0.75 bar), a relatively low
(100
150 kg=m3=hr) filtration rate is achieved in comparison to the high
rate (250
500 Kg=m3=h) achieved by Hyperbaric filters. Yet, the
moisture content in the mud ranges between 40
50% for a good filtering
mud, which is better than the previous thickener method.
The present trend is toward a ‘‘semi dry’’ disposal method. Alcan
developed the deep thickener (Nunn 1998) with a relatively high L=D
ratio. Subsequently, Eimco together with Alcoa developed ‘‘super
thickeners’’ (Nunn 1998). Both thickeners, with the aid of newly devel-
oped flocculants and improved design, are able to supply a much higher
underflow mud concentration than before. Besides the improved design,
the understanding of various aspects of the shear and compression
rheology helped to establish different stages of the disposal system
(Nguyen and Boger 1998). Using this knowledge Alcoa, since 1985, has
successfully implemented the semidry disposal system at their Pinjarra
refinery (Cooling and Glenister 1992).
The latest technological advance in this area is the use of ‘‘hyperbaric
filters,’’ which envisage a much higher throughput and much lower
moisture in the filter cake (Nunn 1998; Oeberg and Steinlechner 1996)
compared to others. Placing the filter in a pressure vessel and pressurizing
the vessel to the 2
6 bar using compressed air achieves this. This type of
filters is already proven in the coal and copper industries up to an area of
120 m2, which may work up to a capacity of above 1000 tpd dry mud
(Nunn 1998). A design prepared by the Inter alumina plant, Venezuela,
using Pijiguayos bauxite (Andritz, Atkinson 1994) requires only 3 of the
 10 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

Table 6. Economic factors and environmental impact comparison of different

dewatering technologies (Nunn 1998; Oeberg and Steinlechner 1996; Andritz,
Atkinson 1994)

Conventional High solids Vacuum Hyperbaric

thickener thickeners* filters filters

Slurry Vol.=T mud solids 2.5 1.4 1.1 0.6

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Liquor Vol.=T mud solids 2.2 1.1 0.8 0.3

Soda content (kg Na2O per T. 16.5 5.0 4.0 1.0
mud solids
Free soda loss with mud ($=yr 4 290 000 1 300 000 1 000 000 260 000
per million tpy dry mud)**
Relative capital cost
1.0
1.1 2.5 1.5
Operating cost including soda
2
2 100 000 2 900 000 1 560 000
loss cost ($=yr per million tpy
dry mud)***
Power consumption (kwh=T
0.7
0.9 3.9 34.0
mud solids)****
Total labor(man h=yr) 20 000 45 000 27 000

*Deep thickeners and super thickeners, **assumes $260=T of Na2O, ***for Venezuala
(1994), ****excluding mud disposal.

120 m2 hyperbaric disc filters to take care of the 2 million tpy alumina
production plant. Based on their earlier trials (Oeberg and Steinlechner
1996), it is expected that better washing with a very dry cake and much
higher Na2O recovery would be achieved. Some economic and environ-
ment comparison are provided in Table 6, based on the reports of Nunn
(1998) and Oeberg and Steinlechner (1996).

Status of Mud Disposal

Mud disposal means its transporting and depositing in a tailing pond or
lake or in a landfill covering the aspects of landscaping, rehabilitation,
and the environmental impact. Of course, the important objectives
remain the same, i.e., 1) reduced mud volume, 2) reduced caustic content,
3) reduced environment impact, 4) improved reclamation potential, and
5) improved rehabilitation possibilities. The usual earlier trend was to
pump a slurry with 20
30% solids to the artificial ponds or lakes,
requiring bottom sealing to avoid caustic leakage, high pumping energy,
etc. (Colembera and Want 1982). Improved dewatering techniques have
 TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION 11

facilitated semidry disposal methods by separating fine mud from the

sand fractions and dewatering to a solid concentration of 50 60% before
transporting by pipelines (Nguyen and Boger 1998). At the disposal dam,
the discharged mud is spread and allowed to consolidate and dry in layers
following the method of thickened discharge and dry stacking (Chandler
1987; Pohland and Tielens 1987; Robinsky 1987). This type of disposal
strategy has many advantages such as reduced pumping costs, effective
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use of land, and minimum environment impact (Cooling and Glenister

1992).
Hyperbaric filters result in a mud of typically 70 80% solids and,
hence, either a conveyer belt or trucks can be used for transportation
(Nunn 1998). The latter appears preferable because of 1) more flexibility
with respect to number of trucks or location of dumping, 2) less capital
investment, 3) less operating cost, etc. This type of mud is also advan-
tageous from the point of view of mud deposition, mud drying (solar or
otherwise), landscaping, closure and rehabilitation, and environmental
impact.

Mud Reclamation/Preparation for Reuse

Aluminina producers have dumped large amounts of mud in artificial
ponds=lakes. Any opening for a beneficial use of red mud will call for
reclaiming these dumped material for reuse, so seeking easy and economic
techniques to do so would be preferred. Recently, Kaiser Aluminium &
Chemical Corporation has ventured such activities (Brown and Kirkpatrick
1999). Kaiser Gramercy discharges the red mud into a lake as slurry with
20% solids content, which consolidates to about 45% solids over several
weeks. Lake drying was achieved by aggressively pumping off the surface
water and trenching the mud lake surface, followed by perimeter trenching
with cross drains. In this way, the lake surface solids content increased to
almost 60%, allowing utility vehicles with oversized tires to run over it in
order to disc the lake surface. This discing allows the surface to quickly
dry to above 75% solids, allowing the subsequent use of large unmodified
bulldozers. In this way, the mud could be reclaimed for reuse. Many
similar methods will come up slowly.

Approach to Utilization
Many efforts are being made globally to find suitable uses for red mud so
that the alumina industry may end up with no residue at all. For complete
 12 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

utilization of red mud, the Nikolaev Alumina Plant proposed the

following avenues (Kovalenko 1998):

 Building material production as an additive to cement;

 Producing a coloring agent for paint works for ground floors of
industrial and other buildings;
 Producing of toned paper in the woodpulp and paper industry;
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 Producing iron ore sinter and pellets in the ferrous metallurgy;

 Improving the soil structure and as a micro fertilizer and a neutralizer
of pesticides in agriculture;
 Extracting rare-earth metals and alumo-ferric coagulants as a
technogenic raw material.

Kaiser Aluminium & Chemical Corporation (Brown and Kirkpatrick

1999) have also started making beneficial uses of their Gramercy Lousiana
Plant residue. Their uses include landfill cover, liquid waste absorbent, road
bed and levee construction material, an alternative to natural marsh sedi-
ment, and metal recovery. The plant at EURALLUMINA in the Southwest
of Sardinia (Pilurzu et al. 1999) proposes the following uses of its red mud: 1)
industrial application as ceramic, building bricks, pigments and 2) use for
the reclamation of mining and quarrying areas as filling material after
decreasing its water content and making it inert material. Thus, a general
approach to the solution can be broadly classified into three categories:

1) Bulk utilization in terms of landfill, land reclamation, etc.;

2) Specific use as building materials, inorganic chemicals, adsorbents,
etc.;
3) Recovery of major metallic constituents.

In addition to these, there are attempts to face this problem through

reducing the generation at the source through suitable beneficiation of
the starting bauxite material. This aspect will be dealt with prior to the
discussion on the above three approaches.

Reducing Red Mud Generation through the Beneficiation

of Bauxite and Process Improvement
A look to the red mud analysis reveals that iron, aluminium, titanium,
combined soda, and silica are the bulk constituents. When iron content in
 TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION 13

the feed is high (near or above 20% as oxide), its content in the mud is
high (above 50% as an oxide), as seen from Jamaican, NALCO, and
some other bauxites in Tables 2, 3, and 5. Similarly, a low value of 10%
as iron oxide, as in surinam bauxite, results in a mud with around 30%
iron oxide. A good number of studies are available in the literature (Rao,
Bhattacharya et al. 1991; Patnaik et al. 1996; Rao, Besra et al. 1997),
which report a substantial reduction of the iron content of bauxite by
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various beneficiation methods. Rao et al. (1991) have reported bene-

ficiation of an Indian bauxite ore by removing iron through magnetic
separation. A starting material without any pretreatment containing
42.2% Al2O3 and 14.2% Fe2O3 could be converted into a product con-
taining 92.6% Al2O3 and 2% Fe2O3 with 72% recovery. Use of such a
material in Bayer’s process would be highly beneficial side by side,
reducing red mud generation substantially.
Removal of calcium and iron from bauxite by HCl leaching was
reported by Patnaik et al. (1996), who showed that >95% of Ca and Fe
could be removed at 60
80 C in 60
80 min. Rao et al. (1997) investi-
gated the effect of pretreatment of bauxite on iron removal. They stu-
died crude as well as prereduced bauxite (calcined at 800 C) and
reported up to 60
80% iron removal under different conditions from
the pretreated ores, whereas the crude sample required much higher
magnetic intensity.
It is also possible to decrease the combined soda content of the red
mud through control of leaching conditions. As already indicated,
gibbsite, which usually constitutes nearly two-thirds of the bauxite raw
materials, responds to low-temperature pressure digestion. Banvolgi and
Siklosi (1998) proposed an improved low-temperature digestion (ILTD)
process, where not only the combined soda reporting in the red mud is
low but also a new byproduct in the form of Bayer sodalite (desilication
product) is generated, thereby increasing the profitability. In this process,
a low reactive hydroxide ion concentration, below 6 g=l, preferably
2
3 g=l, is maintained in the digestion reactor and the bauxite charge
is adjusted stoichiometrically so that the dissolved alumina is fairly close
to the equilibrium solubility for gibbsite, so that dissolution of gibbsite
consumes the reactive OH7 ions in a short reaction time and a significant
part of kaolinite remains unattacked. The bauxite residue (red mud) is
separated immediately after the digestion. The pregnant liquor is sub-
jected to a pressure postdesilication operation in order to maintain a low
dissolved silica content and to make Bayer sodalite for further use. In this
 14 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

way, a soda (Na2O) content of 1.5
2.5% results in the red mud and,
Bayer sodalite biproduct, mostly containing Na2O, Al2O2, SiO2 (sodium
aluminium hydrosilicate-SAHS) and suitable for preparing zeolite, is
obtained.
Sumitomo (Harato et al. 1996) has also aimed at a similar approach.
They have focused on a very short digestion time in a tube digester at a
relatively low digestion temperature of 135 C in order to allow as little
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dissolution of kaolinite as possible. The pregnant liquor desilication

process is not taken up here, so that around 4% of Na2O, which is higher
than the ILTD process (1.5
2.5%) but lower than the conventional
process (8
9%) results in the red mud. A low Na2O content in red mud
improves the scope of the use of red mud.

Bulk Utilization inTerms of Land Fill and Land Reclamation

It is already indicated that red mud is dumped in ponds or lakes identified
for this purpose, if not dumped into the sea. Probably the easiest use for
the mud will be some sort of useful land fill instead of just dumping.
Some such attempts in this direction are filling material for mined or
quarrying areas, landfill cover, road-bed and levee material, alternative
to natural marsh sediment, agricultural land soil neutralization,
composting domestic waste, etc. For use in many of these areas, some
sort of neutralization or red mud amendment becomes necessary.
The following is a brief description of these uses.

Filling Material for Mines and Quarries. Bauxite mines or other quarries
can be filled up by red mud. For this purpose, the slurry must be neu-
tralized and high solids pipeline transportation is necessary. Considerable
progress has been made on the latter aspect, as discussed briefly before-
hand. For neutralization lime, gypsum, sea water, or other materials
having similar neutralization properties are mixed with the red mud. In
Australia and Hungary (Banvolgyi and Siklosi 1998), neutralization is
done by adding gypsum, after which the red mud is called red mud
amended with gypsum (RMG). Recently, CVG— Bauxilum and
Atomaer — KD Engineering Co., Inc. (Galarraga et al. 2002) have suc-
cessfully pilot tested neutralization of red mud pulp from 12.20 to 7.60
pH by using carbon dioxide and the Atomaer gas-shearing technology.
Mine filling is a good use though the values (metal) in red mud are left
to be recovered in the future.
 TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION 15

Landfill Cover. Good progress has been reported by Kaiser Aluminium &
Chemical Corporation (Brown and Kirkpatrick 1999; Kirkpatrick 1996)
in this regard. After caustic neutralization, red mud and local clay
mixtures have been successfully used as land covers. Gardanne Pechiney
(Martinent-Catalot et al. 2002) also has envisaged its use as dump
rehabilitation, artificial reefs, and filler for injection.
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Road-Bed and Levee Materials. Again, Kaiser (Brown and Kirkpatrick

1999) has reported use of red mud as road-bed and levee material. Using
the compactibility of the red mud to good effect, disced red mud was
stacked and then compressed by heavy equipment to form hard road
surfaces on the mud lake, which are used extensively to support the large
trucks carrying the landfill cover and to move equipments around the
lake. The roads remained in good condition even after long use and heavy
rains. Kaiser (Brown and Kirkpatrick 1999) has also used disced
compressed mud as a base material to raise one of the Gramercy Mud
Lake Levee by 5 ft. A clay cap was placed over the material to facilitate
vegetative growth. They are contemplating increasing the life of the
existing lakes by at least 20 years in this way. Nunn (1998) has indicated
that the common practice is to treat only the upper 0.5
1.0 m of the
surface to neutralize the caustic soda. Organics and fertilizers are also
added to facilitate vegetation growth, which prevents wind and water
erosion of the treated soil.

Alternative to Natural Marsh Sediment. A study at Tulane University

(Goldstein and Reimers 1999) has shown that over 25 square miles of
Louisiana wetlands are lost per year due to sediment starvation, coastal
erosion, and subsidence. Quite often, the dredged sediments are found to
be polluted and unsuitable for placement in the wetlands. Red mud has
been proposed to be a suitable alternative, provided the partitioning and
bioavailability of key trace metals do not affect aquatic organisms.

Agricultural Land Neutralization=Composting. Wherever the agricultural

land soil is acidic, red mud can be mixed with the manures=composts to
neutralize the soil. Besides, red mud slurry is a good disinfectant and
stabilizing agent for municipal sewage (Brown and Kirkpatrick 1999;
Goldstein and Reimers 1999). It can eliminate organic infectants from the
sewerage to convert it to sludge suitable for use as a wetland soil or
inclusion in a fertilizer. Kaiser has found good results of flourishing
 16 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

plant life in composted solids=red mud in both fresh and brackish

wetland environments (Gambrell and LeBlanc 1998). RMG have been
successfully used in Australia and Hungary for soil amelioration, com-
posting domestic waste and treatment of domestic sewage or effluents of
animal farms (Glenister et al. 1992; Hofstede and Ho 1992; Puskas and
Gergely 1992; Summers and Smirks 1992; Banvolgyi et al. 1995).
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Specific Use as Building Materials, Inorganic Chemicals,

Adsorbents, Etc.
Numerous uses for red mud have been reported in the literature, well
documented in the book by Thakur and Das (1994). In this section,
only the developments beyond 1994 are discussed briefly. The uses
range from making various building materials, adsorbents, and col-
oring agents to the preparation of exotic ceramic glass materials and
even plasma spraying. Banvolgyi and Siklosi (1998) have claimed that
production of a mud containing 1.5
2.5% Na2O following their ILTD
process is welcome in the cement industry as an additive. The plant of
EURALLUMINA, in the southwest of Sardinia also proposes building
bricks as a possible use for their red mud (Pilurzu et al. 1999).
Smirnov et al. (1999) propose a technology of sulfuric acid processing
of the deactivated red mud with coagulation and granulation of Fe
Al
coagulants followed by burdening, forming, and heat treatment to
produce the building materials. Borovkov et al. (1999) proposed flo-
tation of Cu
Mo from the red waste followed by (addition) using the
tailings to prepare bricks with good physicomechanical and service
properties.
Red mud can be used as an adsorbent and coloring agent. Taking
the special properties of bauxaline, the Gardanne Pechiney plant
reported its suitability for use as arsenic fixation on codisposal projects
and coloring of various materials (Martinent-Catalot et al. 2002). Liu
(1998) evaluated the use of red mud to remove toxic materials from
waste water. Laboratory studies indicated that only 0.5 mg=l red mud
was sufficient for the near complete removal of all the metals except
selenium (IV) at an initial water pH of 8.0 and at a retention time as
low as 1 min. Selenium removal is very pH dependent, with an optimum
pH around 6.0. The predominant mechanisms with red mud coagulants
are adsorption-charge neutralization and sweep coagulation. Other
authors (Pradhan et al. 2000; Zouboulis et al. 1999) have used red mud
 TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION 17

to adsorb nickel. Red mud can also be used as sorbent for flue gases
(Rayzman and Filipovich 1999). It has also been tested as cracking and
dechlorination catalyst for thermal and catalytic degradation of poly-
vinyl chloride containing polymer mixtures into fuel oil (Yanik et al.
2001).
Red mud may be used in ceramic industry. The red mud from
Seydischir Aluminium Plant, Turkey (Yalcin and Sevinc 2000) was
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investigated for use in the making of ceramic glazes such as porcelain,

vitreous (sanitary ware glazes), tile and electroporcelain glazes in the
ceramic industry. It was found that the addition of up to 37 weight
percent of the red mud waste was possible in the production of the glazes.
Recently, Balasubramanian et al. (2000) used specific mixtures of red
mud, fly ash, and spent pot liner to prepare glass
ceramic products,
which showed excellent properties and aesthetic appearance for possible
applications as decorative tiles in the building industry. Xhang and Yan
(2000), through Mossbauer and FTIR spectroscopy and XRD study of
the structure and crystallization of glass ceramics prepared using red mud
as raw material concluded that such glasses have the precursor structure
capable of producing the primary crystalline phase.
A recent study by Mahata et al. (2000) confirmed the formation of a
aluminium titanate
mullite composite from red mud rich in titanium.
This was achieved by preferentially removing Fe2O3 from red mud
through dilute hydrochloric acid leaching, leaving a residue rich in Al2O3,
TiO2 and SiO2. Then, pure Al2O3 powder was added to adjust the molar
ratios of {(Al2O3 þ Fe2O3)=TiO2} ¼ 1.0 and {Al2O3 þ SiO2} ¼ 1.5. Thus,
a composite material consisting of aluminium titanate (Al2TiO5)
iron
titanate (Fe2TiO5) solid solution and mullite (3Al2O3.2SiO2) phases after
final reaction synthesis was obtained. This material has a potential uses
as liquid metal flow regulators, risers, thermocouple sleeves, burner
nozzles, ceramic filters, etc.
A recent study (Nayak et al. 2002) has reported the use of red mud as
plasma-spray coatings on aluminum and copper metal substrates. In this
way, the coating can be used as a wear-resistant coating with applications
for machine components, slide gates, slag holes, excavators, and conveyer
belts.
There can be many such uses for red mud. However, they can take
care of only a small fraction of the waste material. For bulk use,
either the metal extraction processes and=or land fill, etc., may be
considered.
 18 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

Recovery of Metal Values

The analysis presented in Table 5 shows that iron is the major constituent
of red mud, followed by Al2O3, Na2O, SiO2, and TiO2. Of these con-
stituents, the recovery of silica is not significant. Titania has the most
potential value and, if successfully recovered, iron can be obtained as a
value added product, whereas alumina and alkali can be recycled in the
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Bayer’s process stream. Depending on their amount in red mud,

economic extraction of other metals can also be significant.

Recovery of Iron. Iron being the major constituent of red mud, much
attention has been directed toward its recovery. Studies were initiated as
early as in the 1950s. A large number of processes are reported on iron
recovery from red mud, either exclusively or in combination with other
metals and many of these processes have been patented.
Chlorination of red mud was reported by Laszlo and Lozsef (1957)
on a sample containing 66% of Fe2O3 13.30% Al2O3 and 6.1% TiO2.
At 800 C, most of the Fe2O3 could be separated as FeCl3 vapor, but the
residual Fe2O3 contaminated the TiO2, hampering its whiteness. There-
fore, chlorination at 900 C was attempted where all of Al2O3, Fe2O3,
TiO2, and part of SiO2 were converted into vapor form as chlorides.
From the mixture of chlorides, SiO2 is separated by the addition of Al2O3
with the formation of equivalent amount of AlCl3. On treatment with
TiO2, Al2O3 was precipitated along with the formation of TiCl4. The
remaining gaseous mixture of TiCl4 and FeCl3 was further treated with
Fe2O3 to get TiO2 and FeCl3. The FeCl3 was finally converted to Fe2O3.
In this manner, good quality white TiO2 could be produced.
Heck (1953) suggested a method of preparing Fe powder from red
mud by charging red mud from the top of a vertical kiln and reducing gas
(H2, NH3, fuel gas) from the bottom. The iron powder collected from the
bottom was <10 micron in size.
A method suggested by Marvin (1958) for the recovery of Fe, TiO2,
and Al2O3 from red mud used an electric arc furnace with a charge of coke
and red mud for reduction of the Fe2O3. The reaction at 1600
1700 C
resulted in the recovery of 90% Fe, the Al2O3, TiO2 and the residual Fe
remaining in the slag.
A scheme for recovery of iron, alumina, titania, and alkali was worked
out by Ni (1960). The scheme consisted of electrosmelting to produce pig
iron of low titania content. Treatment of the slag with concentrated
 TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION 19

NaOH in the presence of lime under pressure recovered >90% Al2O3.

The remaining mud was leached with dilute alkali followed by water and,
after filtration, the titania from the residue was recovered by chlorination.
Watanabe and Yuki (1960) patented a method to obtain a pure Fe
powder from red mud. The Fe portion of red mud was reduced by
hydrogen or carbon monoxide or town gas at 300
400 C. Powder iron
was separated by magnetic separation.
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In a scheme proposed by Albert (1963), red mud was treated with a

mixture of CO and H2 at <350 C to convert all iron oxide into magnetic
iron oxide. This treatment was followed by the addition of CaCl2 and
heating the mixture at 530
600 C for some time. The resultant mass was
treated with water and filtered to separate the Fe, TiO2, and SiO2 phases,
which remained in the residue.
Braithwait (1982) has suggested the separation of iron from red mud
in slurry form, through the application of high-intensity magnetic
separation. The resulting magnetic product may be an ingredient for iron
making or for pigment in the pottery industry, but the recovery of iron is
low. Another investigation (Agency of Ind. Sci. Tech., J, 1977) reports
the reduction of iron with chlorocarbons before magnetic separation and
the use of the resulting magnetic portion as feed for iron making. In
another study (Guccione 1971), the red mud after drying was blended
with ground coal and agglomerated to 1=2-in size balls. The balls were
prereduced at a high temperature in a circular grate and subsequently fed
into a submerged-arc furnace for smelting.
A study by Mozharenko and Noskov (2001) suggested the possibility
of considering red mud for use in the blast furnace practice and steel
making after compaction of 3
10 mm fraction with preparation of
granules and lumping into briquettes. From experiments carried out on
charge materials sintered with the addition of granulated red mud, it was
found that the compacted red mud in the composition of sinter could be
implemented as the metal- and flux-containing additive in the blast
furnace practice, steel making, and electrometallurgy. Red mud is a
promising binder for different metallurgical wastes.
Some of the more recent studies reported on iron recovery are those
by Xiang et al. (2001), employing low temperature (<350 C) reduction of
red mud, and Misra et al. (2001), employing a relatively high temperature
(650
1050 C) reduction, both followed by magnetic separation. The
former study (Xiang et al. 2001) was undertaken with the red mud of
three different origins and of different chemical composition with respect
 20 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

to the major constituents. The reducing agents were charcoal, coal, saw
dust from a nearby locality, and bagasse from sugar cane processing. The
proximate analysis of the reductants showed variation in their carbon
content. Compared to the other two, saw dust and bagasse were found to
be better reductants and almost complete reduction of the iron to mag-
netite could be observed at temperatures as low as 350 C. Conversion of
ferric iron to magnetite was found to be strongly dependent on the
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mud=reductant ratio, suggesting that pyrolysis of the reductant is the

rate-controlling factor in the reduction process. The efforts by the large
number of researchers in this direction can be classified into three major
approaches with minor variations in the methodology:

1) Smelting;
2) Solid state reduction;
3) Magnetic separation.

Smelting: Red mud is treated in a blast=rotary furnace in the presence of

a reducing agent whereby the iron oxides are reduced (Dobos, Horvath
et al. 1974; Grzymek and Grzymek 1982; Hareter 1974; Leontev et al.
1974; Logomerac 1976a, 1976b) generating pig iron and a titanium-rich
slag. The pig iron can be used for steel making and titanium from the slag
can be recovered by leaching (Szepvolgyi et al. 1988). This method
quantitatively recovers the iron into a high-grade stream and separates it
from other constituents. However, this approach has a number of dis-
advantages. High energy and capital costs are associated with BF
operation because scale of operation is high. Red mud cannot be
exclusively processed in the BF; it can only be blended with good-grade
iron ore to maintain the minimum grade of the charge to BF. In such a
case, the proportion of titanium in the slag gets diluted because its
recovery becomes costly. In addition, titanium reacts with the other
constituents of the slag to form multiple oxides that are difficult to leach.

Solid-State Reduction: In the solid-state reduction or DRI process the

mud is mixed with a reducing agent or contacted with a reducing gas at
800
1000 C, resulting in the formation of metallic iron (Guccione 1971;
Misra et al. 2000; Liu et al. 1995), which could either be an input for a steel-
making furnace or perhaps a charge to a conventional blast-furnace.
Although it involves less energy as well as capital cost compared to the blast-
furnace approach, this method suffers from the disadvantage of making the
 TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION 21

separation of the reduced mass from the rest of the product difficult (Misra
et al. 2000). Thus, the product iron is highly contaminated with the gangue
material. As the material is obtained in a very fine form, it would be difficult
for transportation, which may necessitate agglomeration prior to transpor-
tation.

Magnetic Separation: The third approach consists of the use of high-

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gradient magnetic separation to remove the hematite from the dried and
milled red mud (Liu et al. 1995). Since in the bauxite itself the hematite
particles are assumed to be reasonably well liberated, the magnetic
separation seems to be feasible in theory, but experimental results have
shown the reverse. Even then, this technology offers the advantage of low
energy and the enrichment of the titania content of the mud.
Another feasible approach is the conversion of the hematite=goethite
of red mud into magnetite, which can be accomplished more easily as
compared to the total reduction to metallic iron. This would preclude the
possibility of other side reactions that would normally accompany a
smelting route. This offers two advantages: magnetite being ferromag-
netic can be separated magnetically under more mild condition compared
to hematite and the energy requirement for the reduction of magnetite
to metallic iron is less as compared to that associated with hematite
reduction. Moreover, the cost of reducing hematite to magnetite can be
compensated by the difference in energy requirement between hematite
and magnetite reduction to metallic iron.
A recent development in the iron-making technology that has rele-
vance here is in the utilization of the fines and slimes that are generated in
iron ore mining. Usually, part of this is used in sintering and pelletizing
and the rest is dumped. The National Mineral Development Corporation
(NMDC), India, is setting up a 0.3 mtpa iron plant at the Dantewada
district of Chhattishgard, India, to utilize the fines and slimes generated
from their mines (Sahoo and Pant 2002). This venture, the first of its kind
in the world, is based on the ROMELT smelting reduction process
developed by the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (MISA), Russia.
Taking a clue from this venture NALCO and MISA are considering a
similar approach for treatment of red mud (NALCO 2000
2001). Here,
the proposal is to convert the entire red mud into pig iron and slag; the
latter is expected to be consumed totally in cement making. Other
methods such as Ausiron, HISmelt, DIOS, and Indismelt could also be
used for this purpose.
 22 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

Recovery of Aluminum and Titanium. Studies related to the recovery of

aluminum and titanium from red mud are mostly part of a scheme for
recovery of iron and these two metals. After removing iron as described in the
previous section, the residue is subjected to various treatments for aluminum
and titanium recovery. Accordingly, most of the studies reported in the
literature provide schemes for recovery of these three metals.
Dobos et al. (1964) added 8% CaO to red mud and sintered this
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product with the addition of coke. More than 90% of iron from the sinter
was separated by magnetic separation and the nonmagnetic slag was
further treated with lime and soda and leached to recover 85
90%
Na2O and 75
80% Al2O3.
Tathavadkar et al. (2002) have claimed to have developed a novel
route for extracting alumina from red mud=bauxite. This process involves
the roasting of red mud=bauxite with an alkali carbonate in air at tem-
peratures above 1050 K; digestion of the reaction product in water and
filtration. From the filtrate containing water-soluble alkali aluminate,
Al(OH)3 is precipitated by adjustment of the solution pH and calcined
to yield pure alumina with >98% extraction efficiency. Alkali
carbonates can be recovered by evaporating the filtrate obtained after
removing Al(OH)3 precipitate. Based on the alkali-roasting technique, a
zero-waste technology for alumina extraction can be devised.
Kasliwal and Sai (1999) have described a process for the enrichment of
titanium dioxide in red mud. This method consists of leaching the red
mud with hydrochloric acid followed by roasting the leached residue with
sodium carbonate. In this process, TiO2 increased from 18% to 36% in the
first step and, further, to 76% after the second step. Sayan and Bayramoglu
(2000) studied sulphuric acid leaching for treating red mud for TiO2
recovery.
The U.S. Bureau of Mines has examined the extraction of iron, alu-
minum, and titanium from a Jamaican red mud (Fursman et al. 1970). The
red mud is mixed with sodium carbonate and sintered at high temperature
to form sodium aluminate, which is then dissolved in a caustic solution to
recover the alumina. Iron is then removed by magnetic separation after
conversion to a ferromagnetic state through partial=total reduction. If
titanium is present in the form of rutile, it is recovered by the Kroll process
subsequent to carbochlorination. If present in the form of perovskite, it is
converted to rutile via sulfation to produce a material that is suitable for
commercial use. Titanium extraction should be done only after the other
constituents are removed because of side reactions.
 TRENDS IN RED MUD UTILIZATION 23

Recovery of Other Metals. Recovery of metals other than iron,

aluminum, and titanium is not significant in the sense that no constituent
is present in appreciable concentration justifying its recovery. However,
depending on the bauxite composition, certain constituents may be
present in red mud in larger amounts and can be considered for recovery.
An article by Nikolaev et al. (2000) shows the capability of extracting
the rare-earth metals by strong acids (HCl, HNO3, and H2SO4) from red
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mud of the aluminous production with a minimum salt background.

A basic opportunity is established as to the extraction of rare-earth
metals, Al, and Si from red mud with the help of microorganisms that
produce organic acids. The flow sheet of rare-metal extraction from red
mud using biosorption has been developed and used.
A Soviet Union scientist claimed to have demonstrated that some
red mud residues are rich in scandium and that chemical beneficiation
may make its recovery worthwhile (Rayzman 1998).

General Strategy
Rayzman and Filipovich (1999) and Misra et al. (2001) have indicated a
general strategy to utilize red mud. The former authors (Rayzman and
Filipovich 1999) have suggested an integrated method where coal com-
bustion and red mud sintering are combined in the alumina refinery. After
soda and alumina recovery, the residue can be utilized by metallurgical or
chemical technology. A double-stage pyrometallurgical process for the
decomposition of similar material has been tested on a bench-scale level
(Rayzman 1998). Iron can be recovered either as a reduced iron or pig iron
and the slag is enriched for titanium and rare metals. The latter authors
(Misra et al. 2001) also suggest a similar approach with the removal of
aluminium and soda through sintering and alkali-washing stages followed
by pyrometallurgy of the residue to get pig iron and a slag rich in titanium.
This slag can further be leached with sulphuric acid to recover titanium.
However, this type of strategy strongly depends on the composition
of red mud. First of all, the combined soda is to be considered. In case it
is high, then an attempt should be made to reduce it in the Bayers process
itself with advanced technology. In the case it is not possible, then both
Al and soda can be removed either by sintering or by pressure leaching.
The residue then can be treated for iron and titanium recovery. The rare
metals can also be recovered. Basically, a specific scheme has to be
developed for the specific plant.
 24 R. K. PARAMGURU ET AL.

CONCLUSION
The generation of red mud is huge and the general practice is to dispose
of it off the plant site by either discharging it into the sea or pumping it
into the pools and ponds, depending on the availability of land space.
Though substantial development has taken place in the area of dewa-
tering and the disposal of red mud, its treatment and disposal is still a
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major operation in alumina plants throughout the world. A number of

strategies have been worked out by various alumina plants for its bulk
utilization in terms of landfill, land reclamation, etc. and specific uses as
building materials, inorganic chemicals, adsorbents, and many others.
However, all these uses can consume only a small part of the red mud
generated and a total utilization would need the recovery of major
metallic constituents. Considerable work has also been done in this
direction. The economic evaluation of specific process strategy to recover
metal values depends on the red mud composition. Based on the com-
position of red mud generated, which varies widely from plant to plant,
three strategies may work. 1) The presence of high iron may call for a
process basically suitable for iron extraction, such as the ROMELT
process. 2) High titanium content would require slag treatment to
recover titanium value. 3) High Na2O and Al content needs a prior
sintering step to recover and recycle these values. Complete red mud
utilization may be achieved in the near future.

REFERENCES
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), 1995,
Quarterly Mineral Statistics, 2.
Agency of Ind. Sci. Tech. J., 1977, Patent 52152896-A., Dec. 1977.
Albert, O. H., 1963, Working up the wastes of aluminum manufacture from
Bauxite. German Patent 1143529, 14 February, 4 pp. cited from Chem.
Abstr. 58, 12263e.
Andritz, Atkinson (proposal by Kaiser Engineers), 1994, Cited from Ref 14.
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