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Comprehensive Utilization of Red Mud: Current Research Status and a Possible Way Forward for Non-hazardous Treatment

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Light Metals 2018 (TMS 2018)

Part of the book series: The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series ((MMMS))

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Abstract

Red mud is an alkaline solid waste produced in the process of alumina extraction from bauxite. Presently, more than 3.0 billion tonnes of red mud are estimated to be stockpiled on land with an annual growth rate of approximately 120 million tonnes. The large amount of red mud has become a very real threat to the environment and human health because its high alkalinity presents a potential pollution to water, land and air. This article provides an overview of current research status for the options of comprehensive utilization of red mud and attempts to review their strengths and weaknesses. Ideally red mud is encouraged to be utilized as an industrial by-product for other applications, leading to a zero-discharge situation. On this basis the review recommends the Calcification-Carbonization Method, a promising technology for non-hazardous treatment, to recover the alkali and alumina and meanwhile transform the red mud into a non-hazardous material available for subsequent use.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (grant numbers N162506003); National Key Laboratory Fund (grant number yy2016006); and the Education Department of Liaoning Province Science and Technology Research Project (grant number L2014096).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Ecological Metallurgy of Multi-metal Intergrown Ores of Education Ministry, Special Metallurgy and Process Engineering Institute, School of Metallurgy of Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, China

    Ting-an Zhang, Yanxiu Wang, Guozhi Lu, Yan Liu, Weiguang Zhang & Qiuyue Zhao

Authors
  1. Ting-an Zhang
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  2. Yanxiu Wang
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  3. Guozhi Lu
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  4. Yan Liu
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  5. Weiguang Zhang
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  6. Qiuyue Zhao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ting-an Zhang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rio Tinto Alcan, Saint Jean, France

    Olivier Martin

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© 2018 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society

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Zhang, Ta., Wang, Y., Lu, G., Liu, Y., Zhang, W., Zhao, Q. (2018). Comprehensive Utilization of Red Mud: Current Research Status and a Possible Way Forward for Non-hazardous Treatment. In: Martin, O. (eds) Light Metals 2018. TMS 2018. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72284-9_18

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