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P ol i c y Bri e f

EU MSCA-ETN REDMUD

April 2018

Could “red mud” be the answer to some of


Europe’s critical-metal supply concerns?
T he answers to the current raw-material supply challenges being faced by
Europe lie in technological innovations that increase the efficiency of resource
utilization and allow the exploitation of yet untapped resources, such as industrial
waste streams and metallurgical by-products. One of the key industrial residues that
is currently not or only poorly valorised is bauxite residue (BR, more commonly
known as “red mud”) from alumina refineries.
In 2016 the European alumina and primary-aluminium industries utilized about
12 million tonnes of bauxite to produce about 7 million tons of alumina (out of
the 115 million tonnes produced worldwide), and imported an additional 4 million
tonnes of alumina to produce about 4 million tonnes of primary aluminium (out
of the 59 million tonnes produced worldwide).
A number of processes have been proposed, but never implemented, for the
simultaneous recovery of the major metals from bauxite residue (towards “zero
waste” objective). Despite the lab-scale success of much of the work so far the
industrial utilization of BR is estimated at just 2-4 million tonnes, accounting for
less than 2.5% of the annual BR production.
The main barriers to applying any solution for the valorisation of BR are the
techno-economic viability of the solution and the legislative environment. To
change this, environmental policy actions are needed, to provide incentives for This project has received funding from the European Union’s EU
industrial symbiosis and simplify the waste-transfer or waste de-characterisation Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020
under Grant Agreement No 636876
process across Europe.

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Policy Brief | April 2018 | RED MUD

Bauxite Residue Worldwide 1980, most of the inventory of BR was

B
stored in lagoon-type impoundments
auxite residue (BR) is produced and the practice continues at some fa-
as a red slurry (hence the com- cilities.
mon term “red mud”) and con-
tains iron minerals and other non-alu- As the land for lagoon storage became
mina-bearing bauxite minerals, as well scarce for many plants, “dry stack-
as the liquor desilication product (cal- ing” methods were adopted. These
cium and sodium alumino-silicate pre- dry-stacking regimes were first adopted
cipitates) from the Bayer process cycle. in the 1940s, and since the 1980s the
It is estimated that for each tonne of trend has been increasingly towards dry
alumina produced, 0.9-1.5 tonnes of stacking in order to reduce the poten-
solid residue are generated, depending tial for the leakage of caustic liquor to
on the initial bauxite-ore grade and the the surrounding environment, reduce
alumina’s extraction efficiency. As the the land area required, and maximise
global demand for aluminium metal the recoveries of soda and alumina.
increases, so does BR production, cur- Dry stacking is now the most common
rently in excess of 150 million tons per method adopted at large alumina refin-
year, worldwide. This BR is generated at eries.
some 60 active Bayer plants. In addition,
there are at least another 50 closed leg- Filtration using drum filters and plate
acy sites, so the combined stockpile of Filter-pressed (dry) bauxite residue
and frame filter presses to recover caus- being stockpiled in Greece, at Mytilneos
bauxite residue at the active and legacy tic soda, reduce moisture levels and re- S.A. (former Aluminum of Greece)
sites is estimated at 3-4 billion tonnes. alise more handle-able bauxite residue
has been employed for some 80 years,
The management and storage of baux- and is now becoming more popular.
ite residue have evolved over the dec- In addition to recovering more caustic
ades. In the early Bayer alumina plants, materials, this technique provides con-
the residue was often just stockpiled siderable benefits in terms of reuse as
close to the site or in a nearby depleted the material is normally produced as a
bauxite/shale/coal mine or quarry sites. friable cake, with typically less than 28%
Later, as the nearby areas were filled, moisture, and a lower soda content,
valleys were dammed to contain the ev- thereby dramatically reducing transport
er-growing volume of residue. Prior to issues and costs .

The Auginish (RUSAL) alumina refinery


in Ireland. The blue area is the space
allocated to the refinery; the red is the
the bauxite-residue disposal area.

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Policy Brief | April 2018 | RED MUD

2% 2%
recovery of minor elements other
2% 1%
gas-scrubbing agent minor additives
4%
33%
soil amendment or production
civil & building
7% construction

steel making & slag


additives

9%
recovery of major
metals (Fe, Ti, Al, Na)

12%
waste & water
treatment 13%
catalysts support
12% or adsorbent
ceramics, plastics,
coatings or pigments
Patents on BR processing divided into
areas of intended usage

The large volume of waste produced sities, institutes, and entrepreneurs to


during the Bayer process has been of develop applications including cement,
concern to alumina producers since bricks, roads, etc., soil remediation, as
the early days of its adoption. In cases well as base metals and critical raw-ma-
where land availability is becoming lim- terial (CRM) metallurgical extraction.
ited, the ever-growing demand for BR This vast majority of research and stud-
disposal space, ultimately threatens the ies on BR utilisation is demonstrated by
longevity of established alumina refin- the more than 700 patents since 1964.
eries. BR disposal in the alumina refin- The possible applications can be broad-
ery in Greece takes up 1 km2 of land ly broken down into these categories:
for an annual 0.75 mtonne BR deposit.
At the Auginish plant in Ireland, the • recovery of specific elements present
management of the 1.2 mtonne of BR in the bauxite residue, e.g., iron, tita-
produced annually results in the current nium, aluminium, rare-earth elements
land use of 1.83 km2. Stopping BR dis- (i.e., lanthanides, yttrium and scandi-
posal or gradually reclaiming the legacy um);
BR disposal sites is vital for both indus- • use as a major component in the man-
try and society. ufacture of another product, e.g., ce-
ment;
The list of areas where bauxite residue • use of the bauxite residue as a con-
could be used covers almost all areas stituent in a building or construction
of inorganic material science, with a material, e.g., road building, dyke con-
particular focus on the recovery of el- struction, concrete, tiles, bricks, min-
ements present in the bauxite residue. eral-wool insulation;
Even Bayer himself, in his 1892 patent, • use for some specific property that
describing the Bayer Process, proposed might include the conversion of the
the potential for iron recovery. bauxite residue to a useful material by
Seeking effective solutions has attracted modifying the compounds present,
many researchers from industry, univer- e.g., catalysis, phosphate trapping, soil

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Policy Brief | April 2018 | RED MUD

amelioration, landfill capping, acid European aluminium industry, which


mine drainage treatment. employs directly and indirectly more
than 1,000,000 people at more than 600
A number of processes have been pro- plants and generates about €40 billion
posed, but never implemented, for the in annual turnover (source EA). This
simultaneous recovery of the major sector is associated with two by-prod-
metals from bauxite residue (towards ucts that undermine its sustainability:
the “zero-waste” objective). Concern- BR from alumina production and Spent
ing cost and risk, a detailed cost/ben- Pot Lining (SPL) from primary alumin-
efit analysis, of one or more specific ium production.
process proposals, is needed, not only
to establish economic viability, but also In Europe, alumina refineries operate in
to deal with the whole volume of the Bosnia & Herzegovina, France, Hunga-
produced residue. Despite the lab-scale ry, Germany, Greece, Ireland (AAL),
success of much of the work, so far Romania (ALUM), Spain and Ukraine,
industrial BR utilization is estimated at while significant BR deposits from re-
2-4 million tonnes, accounting for less fineries that have stopped their opera-
than 2.5% of the annual BR produc- tions (legacy sites) exist in Italy, France
tion, with the main applications in the (RT), Germany, Hungary and other
construction sector and iron-steel pro- countries. The current BR production
duction. level in the EU is 6.8 million tonnes
per year; while the cumulative stock-
In 2016 the European (EU28+EFTA) piled level is a staggering >250 million
alumina and primary-aluminium indus- tonnes (dry matter). The catastrophic
tries utilized about 12 million tonnes red-mud dam failure at the Hugarian
of bauxite to produce about 7 million Ajka refinery in 2010 is indicative of
tons of alumina (out of the 115 million the magnitude of the residue-disposal
tonnes worldwide), and imported an ad- challenge and its high environmental
ditional 4 million tonnes of alumina to and economic impact.
produce about 4 million tonnes of pri-
mary aluminium (out of the 59 million Although numerous sporadic projects
tonnes worldwide). The alumina and and isolated research efforts have at-
primary-aluminium sector in Europe tempted to utilize BR as a feedstock in
directly employs about 16,000 people. other sectors (cement, iron, etc), clear-
This sector is the basis for the whole cut cases of industrial utilization of BR

Alumina
Aluminium

Map of the European alumina (green)


and aluminium (red) production sites

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Policy Brief | April 2018 | RED MUD

European Alumina and BR production Country Location Total Alumina An- Estimated BR
nual Capacity (kt) (kt)
(source EA)

Greece (AoG ) Viotia 850 750

Ireland (AAL-RUSAL) Aughinish 1,990 1,800

Romania (ALUM) Tulcea 500 450

France (ALTEO) Gardanne 635 570

Germany (AOS) Stade 1,050 950

Spain (ALCOA) San Ciprian 1,500 1,350

Turkey Seydisehir 490 440

Bosnia & Herzegovina Birac 600 540

TOTAL 7,615 6,850

are rare and can only be applied on a However, despite more than 50 years
fraction of the produced BR in a refin- of research and many publications
ery. Globally, BR as an iron (or alumi- and patents, the widespread, high-add-
na) source in clinker cement production ed-value use of BR has not taken place.
is perhaps the most widespread BR uti- This is due to several barriers that ham-
lization, varying between 2 and 4 mil- per its effective exploitation such as:
lion tonnes per year worldwide (mostly • Volume: Applications that consume
in China and India). This represents large quantities of residue are re-
less than 3% of BR global production, quired.
as this practice is challenged by various • Performance: The performance of
factors ranging from transport costs the residue in any application must
and logistics, to limitations imposed by be competitive with the alternatives
process chemistry, leading effectively to in relation to quality, cost and risk.
small amounts of BR in the raw meal • Costs: No strong economic case has
of the clinker. Out of the 6.8 million yet been established. Technical prop-
tonnes of BR produced annually in ositions need to come with a justifi-
Europe, only 10 thousand tonnes are able economic analysis that demon-
re-used in Greece as a raw material for strates viability.
clinker cement. • Risk: It must be proved to industry

Recent European projects on BR reuse


Project Funding/Coordi- Related Technology Fin-
Name nator ishing
TRL

EN EX AL FP7/2010-2014 Production of pig iron and mineral


Coord. Aluminum wool from BR in Electric Arc Fur-
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of Greece (Mytili- nace
neos S.A)

EU Rare FP7/2013-2017 Leaching of REE from BR


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Coord. NTUA

REDMUD H2020/2014-2017 Recovery of TiO2 /Al2O3/REE


Coord. KU Leuven Microwave roasting of BR for Fe
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[15 PhDs in BR Inorganic binder production
processing] Treatment for cement production

SCALE H2020/2016-2020 Pilot plant for scandium extraction


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Coordinator AoG from Greek BR

RECOVER KIC/2017-2020 Pilot plant for Inorganic polymer


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Coordinator KUL products from BR

Eyde Waste 2 National Project Production of iron alloy from differ-


Value Norway/2016-2019 ent waste streams including Spent 6
Coord. ELKEM Pot-Lining (SPL)

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Policy Brief | April 2018 | RED MUD

Bauxite ore
Aluminium industry

Alumina refinery Alumina Alumina smelter Al

Bauxite residue

Mud2Metal
Selective
REE oxides Sc metal production Al-Sc alloy
leaching/separation

EAF carbothermic Iron alloy (Cr,V,Ni)


smelting

Mineral fibres Mud2Metal BR processing flowsheet


Slag processing Aluminate cement and its connection to the alumina/
aluminum industry.
Geopolymerisation Geopolymers

that the associated risk in any appli- ence between producing Fe-Si instead
cation is less than the risk associated of pig-iron or a pure Sc2O3 concentrate
with continued storage. instead of mixed REE/Sc concentrate.
Technologically, BR reuse solutions can The scenario developed assumes the
be found as stand-alone in the litera- processing of the entire annual BR pro-
ture, but pooling them together and op- duction of AoG (i.e., 700,000 tonnes)
timizing them in an integrated manner and presents the total low and high rev-
is the only way to render bauxite residue enue to be achieved against an averaged
reuse viable from an economic point of and simplified OPEX. Similar techno-
view and acceptable for industry. economic assessments for a holistic BR
It is thus necessary to combine more treatment flow sheet have been pub-
than one technology in order to achieve lished by other groups.
viable and meaningful BR utilization.
Bauxite residue as resource in Eu-
The financial viability of such an ap- rope
proach has been published at a concep-
tual level by AoG, based on RTD expe- Bauxite Residue from the alumina in-
rienced. In the table (below) and graph dustry is stockpiled at a rate of 7 mil-
(next page), a scenario combing EAF lion tonnes on a dry basis per year in
processing for iron production, hydro- Europe:
metallurgical leaching for REE/Sc and • With an average iron oxide content
slag valorisation for cement, inorganic of 40 wt%, it can be considered as
polymers and mineral wool is examined. an equivalent of 3.4 million tonnes
The end-product value in each case is of iron ore available in Europe. This
strongly dependent on integrated pro- results in a 4% decrease in iron-ore
cessing and innovation, i.e., the differ- imports and a 18% increase in Euro-

Product Amount Market price OPEX Indicative breakdown of the


produced [€/tonne] [€ m] ‘mud2metal’ processing flowsheet
[tonnes] products that could be produced from
the annual BR production of Aluminium
Iron product (209,000 tonnes per year) of Greece. Market prices vary
significantly based on the quality/purity
Iron product 209,000 300-1000 210 of each product. OPEX estimation
is made based on the data from the
Slag products (300,000 tonnes per year) ENEXAL and EURARE project

BR Mineral wool 60,000 600-800

BR Aluminate cements 50,000 300-600 14


BR Geopolymers 80,000 100-200
BR Slag cement 110,000 0-20

REE products (1038 tonnes per year)

Sc2O3 (99%) 136 500-1000 105


Mixed REE concen- 902 6-8
trate

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Policy Brief | April 2018 | RED MUD

Iron product Slag product Sc/REE product

€136,007,216

€96,200,000 €105,000,000

€14,000,000
€68,005,412
€59,000,000 €209,000,000 €210,000,000
Examples of holistic BR processing
concepts, based on the mud2metal €62,700,000
flowsheet, described in the table on the
previous page.
Low High OPEX

pean iron-ore production. Main barriers to industrializing BR


• With an average alumina content of recycling solutions
20 wt% and an inherent clay-like be-
haviour, BR is a valuable raw mate- The alumina industry identifies, as the
rial for various building applications; main barriers to applying any solution
Recycling the alumina and soda (2-4 for the valorisation of BR, not only
wt. %) of the BR back to the alumina the techno-economic viability of the
refinery will lead to practically 100% solution, but also the legislative envi-
extraction efficiency of alumina from ronment for applying the solution. The
bauxite ore. simplest BR recycling option, utilization
• BR is a considerable resource for in cement clinker raw meal, is hindered
REE /Sc. Extracting the REE from by the European waste legislation that
the aluminium of Greece’s annual dictates that the cement company re-
BR production can meet the needs of ceiving the BR has the appropriate li-
approximately 10% of the European cence that allows it to utilize/process
REE demand. wastes in its operations. When the com-
• Galium is found in bauxite ores at pany is in a different country from the
levels of 30-80 g/tonne and is dissi- alumina refinery, a specialized transfer
pated in the alumina and BR streams; procedure is needed. And while most
extracting gallium from both the BR cement plants have licences to process
and Bayer liquor from a single Euro- waste materials, the same is not true for
pean alumina refinery would amount other sectors (iron industry, building
to global levels of gallium production materials, etc), which could implement
(annual world production 284 tonnes novel BR reuse solutions.
in 2012). In sending BR to another industry for
valorisation, an EU alumina refinery to-
day must face:

BR
slurry C SiO2 Alkalis
waterglass
H2O
Filter press

BR cake Alkaline
liquor
Inorganic
polymer

Rotary
Flowsheet for producing novel building kiln Precursor
materials (Inorganic Polymers) and
iron concentrates from BR Iron recovery

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Policy Brief | April 2018 | RED MUD

Euronews REDMUD video: “Aluminium


production: what to do with 150 million
tons of waste”

• costs for licensing the transfer and the waste does not pose a threat to hu-
the cost of the transfer itself (more man health and others. However, such *Bio: Efthymios Balomenos
so across boarders) de-characterisation decisions are very Dr. Efthymios Balomenos studied
• potential gate fees at the end-user difficult to be reached independently by mining and metallurgical engineering
industry, a practice that is very com- national governments, as such issues are at the National Technical University
mon, effectively negating the premise very sensitive for the public. A related of Athens and received his PhD
of a circular economy. EC wide directive/policy on de-charac- degree in thermodynamics from
The alternative, i.e., to landfill the BR, terization of BR is needed. the same school in 2006. Since
is often not only the more economical 2008 he has been working in the
solution but also a far less complicated 2. Provide incentives to industries Laboratory of Metallurgy as a
solution. for prioritizing the use of industrial postdoc researcher focusing on
by-products over virgin raw materials. sustainable process development,
To lift such barriers two main policy ac- Currently, industries that could utilize CO2-mitigation strategies, exergy
tions are identified: BR as iron and alumina sources in their analysis and resource-utilization
process have no incentive to do so, as efficiency. He has been involved
1. Simplify the de-characterization pro- virgin raw materials are cheap and their in the coordination and research
cess for BR (especially when it is de- use less complicated. Companies would management of several European
livered as material with less than 30% only use BR if it comes at a lower price Research projects under FP7 and
moisture) from waste to by-product or or even at negative price (gate fees). H2020. He has 25 publications in
raw material. This would greatly simplify The EU needs to provide economic peer-reviewed journals and books
both the transport and the reuse of BR and social incentives to industries that with over 180 citations (h-index 8).
in other industries, driving down costs promote circular-economy practices, The majority of these publications
and time. The legislative framework for otherwise by-products like BR will only relate in one way or another to the
this already exists in many countries, as be utilized where and when virgin raw field of bauxite-residue treatment.
a non-hazardous waste can be de-char- materials are scarce or depleted. In- Since 2015 he has been employed
acterised if the appropriate conditions centives could have the form of tax re- in Mytilineos S.A.- Aluminium of
exist; such as: there is a use for the ductions, CO2 emission allowances, and Greece as residue-valorisation
waste in other process, that the use of gree-product labels. engineer and represents Mytilineos
at the European Aluminium
Innovation Hub..

Want to react? Send your com-


ments to efthymios.balomenos-ex-
ternal@alhellas.gr

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Policy Brief | April 2018 | RED MUD

Key project information:


Project type: H2020 MSCA-ETN
(01/12/2014 to 31/10/2019)
Website: http://etn.redmud.org
EU contribution: €3.72 m
Coordination: KU Leuven

T o tackle its critical raw-materi-


al dependency, Europe needs
comprehensive strategies based
on sustainable primary mining, substi-
tution and recycling. Freshly produced
(incl. Sc) while valorising the residuals
into building materials. An intersectoral
and interdisciplinary collaboration of
EU-leading institutes and scientists has
been established, which covers the full
ration of new building materials with
higher than usual Fe contents. By train-
ing the researchers in pyro-, hydro- and
ionometallurgy, electrolysis, rare-earth
extraction and separation technology,
flows and stocks of landfilled industrial value chain, from BR to recovered met- inorganic polymer and cement chemis-
residues such as mine tailings, non-fer- als and new building materials. Research try, lifecycle assessment (LCA), NORM
rous slag and bauxite residue (BR) can challenges include the development aspects and characterisation, they be-
provide large amounts of critical metals of efficient extraction of Fe, Al, Ti come the much needed scientists and
and, concurrently, minerals for low-car- and rare earths (incl. Sc) from distinct engineers for the growing European
bon building materials. The European (NORM classified) BRs and the prepa- critical-raw-materials industry.
Training Network for Zero-Waste Val-
orisation of Bauxite Residue (RED-
MUD) therefore targets the vast
streams of new and stockpiled BR in
the EU28. BR contains several critical
metals, is associated with a substantial
management cost, whereas spills have
led to major environmental incidents,
including the Ajka disaster in Hungary.
To date, the zero-waste valorisation of
BR is not happening. The creation of a
zero-waste BR valorisation industry in
Europe urgently requires skilled scien-
tists and engineers, who can tackle the
barriers to develop fully-closed-loop
environmentally friendly recovery flow
sheets. REDMUD trains 15 research-
ers in the S/T of bauxite-residue val-
orisation, with the emphasis on the
recovery of Fe, Al, Ti and rare earths

* Disclaimer: the views expressed in this article are the private views of the author and may not, under any circumstances, be interpreted as stating an official
position of ETN REDMUD or SIM² KU Leuven.

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Design: sciencewriter.si

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