Professional Documents
Culture Documents
October/2014
z5007953
Table of Contents
Aluminium Production and Environmental Issues..............................1
1. Introduction...................................................................................3
2. Production......................................................................................4
2.1 Bauxite Mining...................................................................................4
2.2 Alumina Production............................................................................ 5
2.3 Primary Aluminium Production...........................................................6
4. Sources..........................................................................................8
1. Introduction
With 30% of world production, Australia is the major producer
of bauxite, the main raw material for primary aluminium production,
followed by China with 21% (Hydro, 2012). The base raw materials
for primary aluminium production are the hydroxides and bauxite
minerals (gibbsite, bohemite and diaspore), which aluminium
content varies from 31-52%. After the bauxite ore is extracted it is
refined through the Bayer process obtaining the alumina. The major
fraction of alumina is used for primary aluminium production. For
that it is smelted using the Hall/Heroult electrolytic process,
obtaining the aluminium (IAI, 2008). The remaining fraction is then
forwarded
to
production
of
refractories,
ceramics,
cement,
Bauxite
Bauxite
Hot solution
Hot
solution
(NaOH
(NaOH +
+
Ca(OH)
)
Ca(OH)2
2)
Thickeners
Thickeners and
and
filters
filters
Bauxite
Bauxite residues
residues
(insoluble
(insoluble
materials)
materials)
Sodium
Sodium
aluminate
aluminate
Washed
Washed and
and
combined
combined
Residue
Residue
Wash
Wash water
water
Storage
Storage in
in
landfill
landfill
Recycled
Recycled to
to the
the
process
process
2. Production
2.1 Bauxite Mining
Bauxite ore is located close to the surface and in relatively
shallow layers. Generally, one square meter give one tonne of
aluminium. Because of this bauxite mining use large land areas that
influence on native forests, tropical rain forest, farming, pasture
agricultural and other areas (Hydro, 2012).
To produce 2 tonnes of alumina, between 4 and 7 tonnes of
bauxite are required and from this resulting alumina, only 1 ton of
aluminium is yield. Bauxite is usually covered by clay and rocks, so
it passes though processes of washing, wet screening and cycloning.
Remaining clay is stocked in tailing pounds that are revegetated
later (Hydro, 2012).
Environmental issues related to bauxite mining activities are
mostly related to the large deforested areas. Change of landscape
can bring many consequences once it will have influence on soil
4
quality, soil stability, soil use, water behavior and problems with
waste disposal, that also require large areas, and material transport.
Removal of vegetation leads to runoff increasing and erosion and
also disturbance of hydrology because decreases water infiltration in
the soil (Hydro, 2012). Another problem is that the original use of
soil may be affected, for example an area that before was used for
farming, after mining activity it was transformed intro native forest
or pasture (IAI 2008).
(Hydro, 2012)
Environmental problems related with alumina production are
mostly related to the bauxite residue, the red mud. According to
Wang and Liu (2012) 0.8 to 1.8 tonnes of red mud are generated for
each tonne of alumina. Red mud composition varies depending on
bauxite elements but, basically it is constituted by industrial alkali,
heavy metals, fluoride and other pollutants. The problem is that
there is no activity that can use the red mud, this way it needs large
areas to be stocked in projected lagoons and it is not a safe and nice
solution
for
the
environment
since
it
can
contaminate
the
to
bauxite
mining
environmental
issues,
it
is
3.2.Aluminia Extraction
As explained before, the major environmental issue in this
part of production is the residue of bauxite, the red mud. Methods to
dry disposal is an alternative that is considered better than the wet
mud due to the physical space occupied and also the risk of dike
breakage. To minimise risks of environmental contamination, the red
mud is neutralized with sulfur acid (Filho et al, 2007).
4. Sources
Filho, S.E.B.; Alves, M. C. M. and Da Motta, M., 2007. Lama vermelha
da
indstria
caractersticas,
de
beneficiamento
disposio
de
aplicaes
alumina:
produo,
alternativas,
Revista
[Accessed
in
October 20].
Paspaliaris, Panias, D. and Skoufadis, C., 2001. Precipitation and
Calcination of Monohydrate Alumina from the Bayer Process
Liquors, Eurothen, pp. 438-456, Stockholm.
Wang, P. and Liu, D. Y., 2012. Physical and Chemical Properties of
Sintering Red Mud and Bayer Red Mud and the Implications for
Beneficial Utilization, Materials, vol. 5, pp. 1800-1810.
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/09/a-flood-of-red-sludgeone-year-later/100158/