A Study on Chemical Leaching of Iron from Red mud using Sulphuric Acid

Huge quantity of red mud is generated each year as a waste by the alumina industry which consists of a large percentage of iron oxide. This can be recovered and reused if an effective method is exploited. The present work aims at the extraction of iron from red mud by acid leaching using H2SO4. Various process parameters such as temperature, time of contact, proportion of solid to liquid and concentration of acids were investigated through regression analysis to determine their effects on iron leaching and establish optimum leaching conditions. The leaching result showed 47% iron recovered from red mud under optimum condition of 100 degrees C, 24 hours, 8N acid concentration and 5: 100 solid to liquid ratio.