Complete Processing of the High-Iron Content Red Mud

摘要

When bauxites from the Middle Timan and Severouralsk deposits are processed into alumina by the low-temperature sintered process the high-iron content red mud can be obtained. The red mud contain up to 58 % of iron and are a potential raw material for ferrous metallurgy. Rare earth elements (REEs) such as Sc, Y and La are converted from bauxites to red mud in the form of hydroxides during processing and are easily leached by weak acid solutions. In this work, the red mud is treated with a solution of sulfuric acid (pH = 2.5–5), the REEs pass into solution, and then the solution is neutralized to obtain a precipitate, i.e. a concentrate of rare elements. The recovery of REEs is about 75–90 % (Sc, Y, La). The high-iron content red mud is converted to the naturally-doped cast iron and titanium slag (up to 50 wt.% TiO_(2)). As a result of processing bauxite, alumina (Al_(2)O_(3)), the naturally-doped cast iron, concentrate of REEs (Sc, Y, La, etc.) and titanium slag (TiO_(2)) are obtained. The flowsheet of the proposed complete processing of the high-iron content red mud is given.