Characterization of red mud derived from a combined Bayer Process and Calcining method for alumina refining

Red mud is the residue of bauxite processing for alumina. Red mud varies in physical, chemical and mineralogical properties due to differing mineral sources and refining processes adopted. In this project, red mud produced using a combined Bayer Process and Calcining （BPC） method was investigated. Red mud samples of varying ages were collected from the red mud storage facilities of the Zhenzhou Changcheng Aluminium Limited. The objective of this study is to （1） characterize the BPC red mud, and （2） examine the effects of this red mud on treating heavy metal-containing water and soil. Red mud samples were analyzed for pH, EC, water extractable salts and exchangeable basic cations, total element composition （by XRF）, mineral composition （by XRD）, micromorphological characteristics （by SEM） and thermogravimetric analysis （TGA）. The results show that the pH of the red mud decreased with increasing duration of storage time. The pH of the fresh, 5-year-old and 10-year-old red mud was 11.58, 10.56 and 9.61, respectively. Sodium dominated among the soluble cations, but the concentration of soluble Na decreased with increasing duration of storage time as a result of leaching. Cation exchange capacity as estimated from the sum of exchangeable cations also decreased with increasing duration of storage time, probably due to the decreasing pH which causes a reduction in negatively charged sites of the red mud. Calcium was the predominant exchangeable cation in the fresh red mud but the concentrations of exchangeable Ca markedly decreased in the old red mud which was dominated by exchangeable Na.XRF results showed that the red mud consists mainly of oxygen, calcium, iron, silicon, aluminium and titanium. Other important elements include sodium, carbon, magnesium and potassium. It is important to note that the red mud also contains elevated concentrations of radioactive elements, predominantly thorium （Th）, cerium （Ce） and rubidium （Rb）. XRD results showed that the major mineral types in the red mud were calcite, perovskite, illite, hematite and magnetite. There is a trend that the contents of magnetite decreased while the contents of hematite increased with increasing storage time, suggesting the conversion of magnetite to hematite. Observation using a SEM revealed that fresh red mud sample was amorphous while the 10-year-old red mud sample was fairly well crystallized. TGA results showed that the temperature at which the valley of weight loss occurred increased from 681.9℃ for fresh red mud to 722.9℃ for the 5-year-old red mud to 734.7℃ for the 10-year-old red mud. These results suggest that the contents of calcium carbonate increased with increasing storage time. Slow titration of the red mud samples with standardized acid solutions for two years indicated that the fresh red mud had an acid neutralizing capacity （ANC） of about 10 mol/kg while the ANC of old red mud samples was around 9 mol/kg. The ANC values obtained from the determination of BPC red mud here are much higher than those previously reported for red mud derived from the pure Bayer Process at the Queensland Alumina Limitd, Australia, and at the Pinggno Alumina Refinery, China.

Characterization of red mud derived from a combined Bayer Process and Calcining method for alumina refining