Indian red mud - Chemical analysis and

mineralogy, REE extraction and treatment

of hospital waste

Bauxite

Bauxite aluminium ore

Colour of bauxite is pink
low amount of iron- whitish in colour
increased iron content - reddish brown
Mixture of gibbsite [Al (OH)3],
boehmite [-AlO(OH)] and diaspora [AlO(OH)] and other compounds such as
hematite [Fe2O3], goethite [FeO(OH)],
quartz [SiO2], rutile/anatase [TiO2],
kaolinite [Al2Si2O5(OH)4] and some
minor impurities
India rank 7th in the world among
aluminium producing countries
Light mineral having a specific gravity
of 2.6 to 3.5

Red Mud

The overall refining of bauxite to alumina through the Bayer

process implies the production of a large quantity of a solid
waste called red mud (the production of 1 t of alumina
generally results in the creation of 11.5 t of red mud).
Mixture of oxides and hydroxides of iron, aluminum and silicon
Highly alkaline
Major constituents
crystalline hematite (Fe2O3)
boehmite (-AlOOH)
quartz (SiO2)
sodalite (Na4Al3Si3O12Cl)
gypsum (CaSO42H2O)
Minor presence of calcite (CaCO3), whewellite (CaC2O4H2O)
and gibbsite Al(OH)3.

Chemical composition
A chemical analysis of red mud (RM) reveals the
presence of Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Ti, as well as an array of
minor constituents, such as Na, K, Cr, V, Ni, Mn,
Cu, Zn, Pb
Composition
Fe2O3

Percentage
3060 wt%

Al2O3

1020 wt%

SiO2

350 wt%

Na2O

210 wt%

CaO
TiO2

28 wt%
Trace-25 wt%

Bayer Process

Bauxite producers
States:

Orissa (43.6%)
Jharkhand (19.2%)
Maharashtra (13.3%)
Madhya Pradesh/Chattisgarh (11.4%)
Andra Pradesh (12.4%)

Districts:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Koraput and Sundargarh (Orissa)

Gumla and Lohardaga (Jharkhand)
Vishakhapatnam (Andra Pradesh)
Kohalapur and Ratangiri (Maharashtra)
Bastar, Bilaspur, Surguja, Mandla, Satna,
Jabalpur, Shahdol (Madhya Pradesh/Chattisgarh)
Jamnagar, Kachchh, Junagarh (Gujarat)
Salem and Nilgiri (Tamil Naidu)

Disposal problem

Red mud is harmful due to its high

alkalinity but it is not toxic.
Big environmental problem due to

leaching

requirement of large area for

disposal
The disposal cost of red mud is also
very high and accounts for about 5%
of alumina production cost
Different disposal methods have
been practiced around the world
including landfill, deep sea dumping
and storage in settling ponds
With the increasing demand for
alumina worldwide, the generation
of red mud is estimated to be 4
billion tons by 2015

Merits and demerits

Method

Merit

Demerit

Slurry disposal

Low infrastructure
investment; natural
surfaces can be used for
providing banks

Large space requirements; high

investments for building ponds;
continuous need for enlargement
of ponds or erection of new
ponds; reclamation of area is
expensive and time consuming

Dry mud disposal

Requires less space;

consolidate rapidly

High investment costs on

machinery; require higher energy

Sea/lake disposal

No investment on ponds;
lower energy
requirements

Harmful to marine organisms in

the long run; should be dumped
at depths exceeding 3000 m

Solar drying

Area required is less

than that for slurry
disposal but more than
that for dry disposal

Requirements stand-by method

for use during rainy seasons;

Reuse of red mud

Red mud has good adsorption capacity and it can be used as a

low cost adsorbent in waste water treatment
Red mud has capability to adsorb components like
phosphate
arsenic
nickel
fluoride
nitrates
Trace heavy metals like cadmium, lead and copper etc. from
waste water
Also utilized as a building materials (such as bricks, concrete,
cements and road foundation materials), coagulants, catalysts,
and as agents for neutralizing acidic waste

Objective(s)

Mineralogy and chemical composition of red mud

Extraction of Rare Earth Elements (REE)
Study the adsorption properties of red mud by
using hospital waste as an adsorbate

Methodology
Red mud will be collected from two different sites of India.
Total element composition will be analyzed by X-ray fluorescence
spectroscopy (XRF)
Mineral composition will be determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD)
Extraction of REE:

Washing of red mud with distilled water by taking different ratios

of red mud and water

Acid treatment (Conc. HCl/ H2SO4)

Calcination (600-800C)

Sea water treatment

Adsorption experiments will be conducted by using hospital waste of
known composition as an adsorbate and red mud (at different amount)
as an adsorbent in flask for different contact time at room temperature
Experiments will be conducted at different known amount of red mud
and contact time

Expected outcome
The following outcomes are expected:
Mineralogy and chemical composition of
sampled red mud
Optimum condition for REE extraction from
red mud
Compounds those could be removed from
hospital waste by red mud

References

Kumar, S., Kumar, R., Bandopadhyay, A., 2006. Innovative methodologies for the utilization of
wastes from metallurgical and allied industries. Resour. Conserv. Recycl, 48, pp. 301314.
engeloglu, Y., Kir, E., Ersz, M., 2002. Removal of fluoride from aqueous solution by using
red mud. Sep. Purif. Technol, 28, pp.8186.
Apak, R., Gl, K., Turgut, M.H., 1998a. Modeling of copper (II), cadmium (II), and lead (II)
adsorption on red mud. J. Colloids Interf. Sci. 203, pp. 122130.
Altundogan, H.S., Altundogan, S., Tmen, F., Bildik, M., 2002. Arsenic adsorption from
aqueous solutions by activated red mud. Waste Manage, 22, pp. 357363.
Altundogan, H. S., Altundogan, S., Tumen, F., Bildik, M., 2002. Arsenic adsorption from
aqueous solutions by activated red mud. Waste Management, 22, pp. 357363.
Lpez, E., Soto, B., Arias, M., Nez, A., Rubinos, D., Barral, M.T., 1998. Adsorbent properties
of red mud and its use for wastewater treatment. Water Res. 32, pp. 13141322.
Shiao, S.J., Akashi, K., 1977. Phosphate removal from aqueous-solution from activated red
mud. J. Water Pollut. Control Fed., 49, pp. 280285.
Samal, S., Ray, A. K., Bandopadhyay, A., Proposal for resources, utilization and processes of
red mud in India A review, International Journal of Mineral Processing 118 (2013) 4355
Abhilash , Sinha, S., Sinha , M. K., Pandey, B. D., Extraction of lanthanum and cerium from
Indian red mud, International Journal of Mineral Processing 127 (2014) 7073.
Ghosha, I., Guhaa,S., Balasubramaniamb, R., Kumar, A. V. R., Leaching of metals from fresh
and sintered red mud, Journal of Hazardous Materials 185 (2011) 662668.

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