Smelting of Bauxite Residue (Red Mud) in View of Iron and Selective Rare Earths Recovery

During acid leaching of bauxite residue (red mud), the increase in dissolution of rare-earth elements (REEs) is associated with an increase in iron dissolution, which poses problems in the downstream processing. Therefore, it would be beneficial to remove iron from bauxite residue by smelting reduction. The slag generated in the smelting reduction process could then be further processed for recovery of REEs. Smelting experiments were carried out at temperatures between 1500 and 1600 °C. Wollastonite (CaSiO3) was used as a flux and graphite as a reducing agent. The addition of wollastonite decreases the slag melting temperature and the viscosity, facilitating slag-metal separation, whereas a graphite content higher than the optimum level alters the slag chemistry and hinders the slag-metal separation. The optimum conditions were found to be for heating at 1500 °C: 20 wt% of wollastonite and 5 wt% of graphite. More than 85 wt% of the iron was separated from the slag in the form of a nugget. A further 10 wt% of the iron could be extracted from the slag by subsequent grinding and magnetic separation. The slag obtained after iron removal was treated with HCl, HNO3, and H2SO4 acids to extract REEs. Room-temperature leaching was found to be not beneficial for REEs extraction. High-temperature leaching enhanced the recovery of REEs. More than 95 % of scandium, >70 % of REEs, and about 70 % of titanium could be leached at 90 °C. The selectivity of REEs over iron during slag leaching was clearly improved. © 2015, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS).