RemovAL

On February 24th “Silicon Rich Iron Alloy from Bauxite Residue” paper was published by Halvor Dalaker and Casper van der Eijk. Bauxite residue (BR) contains iron oxide (20-50%) that can be recovered as pig iron, but this is not economically feasible due to low market prices. Instead, efforts are made to maximize the silicon content in iron alloys produced from BR since silicon-rich alloys have higher value. Experiments and thermodynamic modeling were conducted on BR from a legacy site and three alumina refineries, achieving a maximum silicon content of 17% in the produced alloys. The paper discusses the thermodynamics and […]

The 22nd of February 21 Chiara Gardenia, Efthymios Balomenos, Pritii Wai Yin Tam, Dimitrios Panias published the paper “Combined Soda Sintering and Microwave Reductive Roasting Process of Bauxite Residue for Iron Recovery” that shows an integrated process as a suitable method to transform Fe3+ oxides present in bauxite residue into magnetic oxides and metallic iron through a microwave roasting reduction, avoiding the formation of hercynite (FeAl2O4). https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/11/2/222

The International Aluminium Institute (IAI) has launched the Bauxite Residue Roadmap to maximise the use of bauxite residue in cement and concrete products. The roadmap provides information that addresses concerns, prejudices, technical and legislative barriers to bauxite residue use.

On  the 28th of September, 2020,  the Fifth Progress meeting of the removal project was held once again online, due to the COVID 19 travel restrictions. The consortium has agreed to request for a six month extension to the project timeline to cope with the delays caused by the global pandemic.

First tapping of pig iron and slag from Bauxite Residue (BR) smelting at Elkem Pilot. Trials will continue with different mixes of BR, Si sources and carbon, including SPL. The slag produced will be evaluated and tested for use in cement and mineral wool production as well as for alumina and REE extraction.

The 4th RemovAL progress meeting was held on 11-12 May  2020, online due to the COVID19 outbreak.In total 40 participants joined the online teleconference sessions to review and discuss the progress of the project.  Hopefully the next REMOVAL meeting will be once again physical.

As part of the EU Removal research project, European Aluminium organised on 6 November a workshop in Brussels focusing on the EU regulatory framework addressing residues and slags from the metal industry. This workshop gathered more than 50 experts from the European commission, metal industry such as aluminium, steel, copper, ferro-alloy and from the RemovAL consortium. Experts discussed the opportunities and challenges encountered by the various metal sectors in order to identify more promising regulatory options for the future, especially for bauxite residues which are the heart of the Removal project. See the full programme of the workshop

The first project review for RemovAL took place in KU Leuven on 7-8 November 2019. During the meeting the consortium visited the KULeuven’s mobile inorganic polymer (IP) pilot plant. The latter will be transported to alumina refineries for in-situ demonstration of innovative IP binder production from BR.