Aluminium - Enriching A Billion Lives

Aluminium is used excessively in the modern world with extremely diverse due to its several unusual combinations of attributes. No other metallic element can be used in so many ways across such a variety of domains like in the home, in transport, on land, sea and in air, and in industry and commerce. Aluminium's usages are not always as obvious as they may seem, with sizeable proportions of manufactured aluminium and aluminium oxide going into other separate processes, like the manufacture of glass, rather than towards the common consumer products that we most readily associate Aluminium with.  Over 95% of the Alumina manufactured globally is derived from Bauxite by the Bayer process. The Bauxite residue primarily consists of iron oxides, silicon oxide, titanium oxide and undissolved alumina together with a wide range of other oxides. This depends on the place of extracted bauxite and during refinery process, it leaves behind a residue known as Red Mud. It is composed of a ...

Alumina production employs the Bayer’s process which leaves behind a residue known as Red Mud. If the alumina extraction is done through any other process then the residue left behind is known as White Mud or Bellite. Over 95% of the alumina manufactured globally is derived from bauxite by the Bayer process. For more on the Bayer’s Process:  http://redmud.org/red-mud/production/ Red mud near Stade (Germany) Over 90% of the alumina produced in the world is used to manufacture aluminium metal. This is termed as metallurgical or smelter grade alumina (SGA). The rest is termed non-metallurgical grade alumina (NMGA). Red mud is composed of a mixture of metallic  oxides. The bauxite filtrate primarily consists of iron oxides, silicon oxide, titanium oxide and un-dissolved alumina together with a wide range of other oxides. This depends upon the place of extracted bauxite. The iron oxides, which comprise up to 60% of the mass of the sludge impart the red colour. ...