Recovery of metals from Red Mud

Theme: Wealth out of Waste

Expected Pilot Duration: 6-9 Months

Challenge Summary

Extraction of valuable metals/compounds from Red Mud. The pilot shall be conducted for a capacity of 10 Metric Tonne.

Challenge Scenario

Red mud is a major waste produced during Alumina production. Yearly production of the waste is 3 million MT per year. This brings in volume and stacking challenges.

Presently red mud is sent through a press filter at VLL location and is disposed off in a dry stacking manner. Hence, red mud poses an environmental liability.

Red mud has the following composition: Fe2O3 : 45%, Al2O3 : 20%, and other rare earth elements like V, Ga and Ti in the range of 3-6%. Extraction of these elements would be a true form of wealth out of waste

Profile of the end users

Bauxite residual operations team

Handling the day-to-day activities for Bauxite residuals and related operations.

Bauxite residue utilization team

Responsible for tailing pond management

Solution Requirements

Material and energy analysis with regards to the day-to-day running of the process

List of instruments being used and respective SOP to be followed during operations.

List of preventive maintenance that needs to be performed on the equipments.

Documentation of the feasibility study (operational feasibility & economies of scale).

Roadmap for value generation from the extracted materials.

Extraction Fe2O3 : 45%, Al2O3 : 20%, and other rare earth elements like V, Ga and Ti in the range of 3-6%.

Pilot scale working and operational equipments with performance guarantee to be provided.

Different business models are to be explored in terms of revenue & operations.

Environmental Constraint: pH of the red mud is in the range of 12-13, hence special care needs to be taken regarding run-off and leaching. In all operations HDPE liners should be used wherever red-mud is stored.

Expected Outcomes

1. Quantified Metrics & Outcomes:

Operational KPIs/Metrics	Current Value	Expected Target Value
Rare earth elements extraction from red mud	-	70% extraction of Ti, V, and Ga present in the red-mud
Iron extraction from red mud	-	95% extraction of iron present in the red-mud
Alumina extraction from red mud	-	95% extraction of alumina present in the red-mud

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