Surface and bulk properties of alumina recovered under various conditions from aluminum dross tailings chemical waste versus bauxite ore

Bauxite ore (industrial raw material) and aluminum dross tailings (a local industrial waste material of the Aluminium Company of Egypt, Egyptalum) were used as two different parent materials to produce alumina. A set of six different preparation methods was applied to aluminum extracts from both materials. X-ray powder diffractometry, thermal and chemical analyses, and surface area and charge measurements were used to characterize the alumina products. The results indicate that catalytic grade, high-purity alumina products of uniform particle sizes could be obtained in large yields, depending solely on the preparation method applied, i.e., irrespective of the raw material used. Thus, aluminum dross tailings chemical waste is proved to be a feasible parent material for specialty alumina, which is an important finding both economically and environmentally.