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Alumina Process

Alumina Process
Bauxite and Alumina

Alumina (aluminium oxide Al2O3) is a fine white material similar in appearance to

salt. While alumina is also used in abrasive, ceramics and refectory industries,
Queensland Alumina Limited produces only smelter-grade alumina for the owners
reduction plants in Australia and overseas.
The QAL process was designed to refine bauxite located at Weipa in North
Queensland. The extensive deposits of this ore were formed by weathering of sands
and rocks millions of years ago, increasing the alumina content as other more soluble
elements were removed.
Bauxite occurs close to the surface in seams varying from one meter to nine meters,
formed as small reddish pebbles (pisolites). The ore is shipped to Gladstone following
"beneficiation" to remove low-grade material, and blending to provide a consistent
grade.
The Bayer Process
The Bayer Process - an economical method of producing aluminium oxide - was
discovered by an Austrian chemist Karl Bayer and patented in 1887.
The process dissolves the aluminium component of bauxite ore in sodium hydroxide
(caustic soda); removes impurities from the solution; and precipitates alumina tri
hydrate which is then calcined to aluminium oxide.
A Bayer Process plant is principally a device for heating and cooling a large re
circulating stream of caustic soda solution. Bauxite is added at the high temperature
point, red mud is separated at an intermediate temperature, and alumina is
precipitated at the low temperature point in the cycle.
Bauxite usually consist of two forms of alumina - a mon hydrate form Boehmite
(Al2O3.H2O) and a tri hydrate form Gibbsite (Al2O3.3H2O).
QAL uses the Bayer Process to refine two grades of Weipa bauxite, the bulk of which
is "monohydrate" grade bauxite.

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Boehmite requires elevated temperatures (above 200C) to dissolve readily in 10%

sodium hydroxide solution.
The tri hydrate grade bauxite is mainly Gibbsite which dissolves readily in 10%
sodium hydroxide solution at temperatures below 150C.
Consequently, monohydrate bauxite undergoes high temperature extraction under
pressure in digesters, while tri hydrate grade material is added as a "sweetening
bauxite" to the flash tanks where temperatures are less than 200C.
The design of the plant meets the requirement of smelters of coarse or sandy alumina
for reduction to aluminium. The recovery rate is about one tonne of alumina per 2.2
tonnes of bauxite.
From the plants, million-tonne bauxite stockpile to the A-frame alumina storage sheds
is a processing journey of about 2.5 days.
The QAL plant circulates some 550 million liters of caustic soda solution through four
distinct stages, the functions of which are detailed in this process description.

Process:
1. DIGESTION OF BAUXITE
Grinding:
Pisolitic, monohydrate-grade bauxite sized to a maximum of 20mm, is ground in 10
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mills (each with one compartment of rods and one of balls) to allow better solid liquid
contact during digestion. Recycled caustic soda solution is added to produce a pump
able slurry, and lime is introduced for phosphate control and mud conditioning.
Desilication:
The silica component of the bauxite is chemically attacked by caustic soda, causing
alumina and soda losses by combining to form solid desilication products. To de
silicate the slurry prior to digestion, it is heated and held at atmospheric pressure in
pre-treatment tanks, reducing the build-up of scale in tanks and pipes. Most
desilication products pass out with the mud waste as sodium aluminium silicate
compounds.
Digestion:
The plant has three digestion units. The monohydrate slurry is pumped by high
pressure pumps through two agitated, vertical digester vessels operating in series.
Mixed with steam and caustic solution, alumina in the bauxite forms a concentrated
sodium aluminate solution leaving un dissolved impurities, principally inert iron and
titanium oxides and silica compounds. Reaction conditions to extract the
monohydrate alumina are about 250C and a pressure about 3500 kPa, achieved by
steam generated at 5000 kPa in coal-fired boilers.

Under these conditions, the chemical reactions are rapid:-

2NaOH + Al2O3.3H2O --> 2NaAlO2 + 4H2O

2NaOH + Al2O3.H2O --> 2NaAlO2 + 2H2O

By sizing the vessel to optimum holding time, about 97% of the total available
alumina is extracted and the silica content of liquor is reduced.
Heat Recovery:
After digestion about 30% of the bauxite mass remains in suspension as a thin red
mud slurry of silicates, and oxides of iron and titanium. The mud-laden liquor leaving
the digestion vessel is flash-cooled to atmospheric boiling point by flowing through a
series of flash vessels which operate at successively lower pressures.
The flash steam generated is used to preheat incoming caustic liquor in tubular heat
exchangers located parallel to the flash tank line. Condensate from the heat
exchangers is used for boiler feed water and washing waste mud.
Sweetening:
The tri hydrate bauxite has separate grinding and pre-treatment facilities. During the
pass through the flash tanks, this additional bauxite slurry with high tri hydrate
alumina content is injected to maximise the alumina content of the liquor stream. This
occurs in the appropriate flash vessels when the slurry from the digesters has been
cooled to less than 200C.
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2. CLARIFICATION OF THE LIQUOR STREAM

Settlers:
Most red mud waste solids are settled from the liquor stream in single deck 40 meter
diameter settling tanks. Flocculants are added to the settler feed stream to improve
the rate of mud settling and achieve good clarity in the overflow liquor.
Washers:
The mud is washed with fresh water in counter-current washing trains to recover the
soda and alumina content in the mud before being pumped to large disposal dams on
Boyne Island.

Slaked lime is added to dilute caustic liquor in the washing process to remove
carbonate (Na2CO3) which forms by reaction with compounds in bauxite and also
from the atmosphere and which reduces the effectiveness of liquor to dissolve
alumina. Lime regenerates caustic soda, allowing the insoluble calcium carbonate to
be removed with the waste mud.

Na2CO3 + Ca(OH)2 --> CaCO3 + 2NaOH

Filters:
Settlers overflow liquor containing traces of fine mud is filtered in Kelly-type constant
pressure filters using polypropylene filter cloth. Slaked lime slurry is used to produce
a filter cake. Mud particles are held on the filter leaves for removal and treatment in
the mud washers when filters are sequentially taken off line.
Heat Interchange:
With all solids removed, the pregnant liquor leaving the filter area, contains alumina in
clear supersaturated solution. It is cooled by flash evaporation, the steam given off
being used to heat spent liquor returning to digestion.
3. PRECIPITATION OF ALUMINA HYDRATE

Crystallisation:
Dissolved alumina is recovered from the liquor by precipitation of crystals. Alumina
precipitates as the tri hydrate Al2O3 .3H2O in a reaction which is the reverse of the
digestion of tri hydrate 2NaAlO2 + 4H2O --> Al2O3.3H2O + 2 NaOH

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The cooled pregnant liquor flows to rows of precipitation tanks which are seeded with
crystalline tri hydrate alumina, usually of an intermediate or fine particle size to
promote crystal growth. Each precipitation tank is agitated, with a holding time of
about three hours. During the 25-30 hours pass through precipitation, alumina of
various crystal sizes is produced. The entry temperature and the temperature gradient
across the row, seed rate and caustic concentration are control variables used to
achieve the required particle size distribution in the product.
As correct particle size is important to smelter operations, sizing is carefully
controlled. The QAL precipitation plant was designed to operate on a continuous
basis to produce "sandy" or coarse alumina.
Classification:
The finished mix of crystal sizes is settled from the liquor stream and separated into
three size ranges in three stages "gravity" classification tanks. The primary classifiers
collect the coarse fraction which becomes the product hydrate. The intermediate and
fine crystals from the secondary and tertiary classifiers are washed and returned to
the precipitation tanks as seed.
Spent Liquor:
Spent caustic liquor essentially free from solid overflows from the tertiary classifiers
and is returned through an evaporation stage where it is re concentrated, heated and
recycled to dissolve more alumina in the digesters. Fresh caustic soda is added to
the stream to make up for process losses.
4. CALCINATION OF ALUMINA

Washing:
A slurry of coarse hydrate (Al2O3.3H2O) from the primary thickeners is pumped to
hydrate storage tanks and is filtered and washed on horizontal-table vacuum filters to
remove process liquor.
Calcining:

The resulting filter cake is fed to a series of calcining units - an 1800 tonnes a day
circulating fluidised bed calciner or one of nine rotary kilns each 100m long and 4m in
diameter. The feed material is calcined to remove both free moisture and chemicallycombined water. Firing-zone temperatures above 1100C are used, achieved by firing
with natural gas. The circulating fluidised bed calciner is more energy efficient than
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the older rotary kilns. Product sandy alumina particles are 90%+ 45 m (microns) in
size.
Cooling:
Rotary or satellite coolers are used to cool the calcined alumina from the rotary kilns,
and to pre-heat secondary combustion air for the kilns. Fluidised-bed coolers further
reduce alumina temperature to less than 90C before it is discharged on to conveyor
belts which carry it to storage buildings where it is stockpiled for shipment.
Reference:
Web site http://www.qal.com.au/
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