<<

Abstract Recovery The aluminum industry is booming but with its mass production comes A Zero Waste Solution large amounts of waste known as red Team Members: Cory Brolliar (Robotics Engineering),Emily Molstad (Environmental Engineering), mud. This hazardous waste is not Connor Murphy (Aerospace Engineering), William Schwartz (ECE and CS), Kyle Tyler (Environmental Engineering), only an economical loss, but has Advisors: Prof. Brajendra Mishra serious environmental impacts such as leeching into the water Fluidized Bed Magnetic table. Many attempts have been Aluminum Plant made to utilize it from forming bricks Red Mud Plant Reactor Separation or mixing it in with but these solutions fall short. The struggle to dispose of this waste product may be Magnetite at an end as we turn to the potential Red mud + Coke 1300°C of red mud as a source for commercial materials. Red Mud Red mud is composed of fair amounts of , additional alumina, , , and trace amounts of rare Breakdown of Revenue *All values in billions of Air earth elements. The objective of this dollars Iron Oxide, 28.44 Aluminum project is to establish a system that Titanium Dioxide, 91 efficiently extracts these materials Oxide 950°C Alumina , + Sodium Carbonate individually and sells them to their 407.07 Dissociates in respective industries. After careful Water analysis of the processes required for , 907.1636 extraction and the profit made from , Cool Solution 950°C these , it has become evident 1.352 that red mud should no longer be considered a mere waste product. Total Revenue: $1.4 Trillion Calcium Silicate Titanium Slag Leached with Autoclaving Sodium Conclusion/Recommendation Composition of Red Mud by Percent -Iron Extraction by Fluidized bed reaction with metallurgical 300°C 90°C Weight coke Other -Aluminum Extraction by solid Na2CO3 reacting with the Iron Oxide Slag + 18% Calcium 30% Al2O3 at 950°C, yielding a water soluble NaAlO2. Once Silicate cooled with water to 25°C, up to 95% of the Al2O3 can be 17% extracted in pure form and sold for profit. -Titanium Extraction by sulfuric acid Alumina -Rare Earths Extraction by autoclaving at 300 °C in presence 27% Scandium of 300-500 g of NaOH. 0.2% Selected Bibliography Titanium " Residue Management." and . The International Aluminum Institute, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2015. -Calcium Silicate can be used for construction materials "Cement Manufacturing." Cement Manufacturing. American Foundry Society, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. "Characteristics." Red Mud Project. N.p., 2 May 2005. Web. 08 Dec. 2015. Dioxide Erlin, Bernard, William Hime, and Mike Pistilli. "The Cost of Doing Business With ." Concrete Construction. Hanley Wood Media, 21 Dec. 2005. Web. Fiscor, Steve. "Cleaning Up the Red Mud." Engineering and Mining Journal. N.p., 25 July 2013. Web. Friedrich, Bernd, Ioannis A. Sofras, and Frank Kaussen, comps. CARBOTHERMIC REDUCTION OF RED MUD IN AN EAF (2015): 182-87. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. 8% • Bricks "Free Charts for Your Website." MetalPrices.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. "FullTextFinder@WPI." FullTextFinder@WPI. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. Scandium Milos. "First European Rare Earth Resources Conference." (n.d.): n. pag.1st European Rare Resources Conference. Milos, June-July 2014. Web. News, CBC. "Red Mud: of Aluminum Refining." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 07 Oct. 2010. Web. 04 Nov. 2015. "The Properties of Certain Radionuclides." Environmental Radioactivity (1997): 547-68. Web. • Insulation "The Red Mud Accident in Ajka (Hungary): Plant Toxicity and Trace Bioavailability in Red Mud Contaminated Soil." - Environmental Science & Technology (ACS Publications). N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. "Red Mud Project Site Dedicated on the Valorisation and Best Practices on Bauxite Residue." Red Mud Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2015. "Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. Ritter, Stephan K. "Downloads (Adobe Reader Required)." Mining and Refining – Bauxite Residue Management. Chemical and Engineering News, 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 04 Nov. 2015. Rychkov, Vladimir. CARBONATE TREATMENT AND SORPTION OF SCANDIUM FROM RED MUD (n.d.): n. pag. Bauxite Residue Valorisation and Best Prices. Leuven, June-July 2015. Web. • "Scandium Prices: What You Need to Know - Investing News Network."Investing News Network. N.p., 15 Sept. 2015. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. "Statistical Modeling of Sulfuric Acid Leaching of TiO2 from Red Mud." Statistical Modeling of Sulfuric Acid Leaching of TiO2 from Red Mud. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. "Statistical Modeling of Sulfuric Acid Leaching of TiO2 from Red Mud." Statistical Modeling of Sulfuric Acid Leaching of TiO2 from Red Mud. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. "Titanium Production Technology, Market Prospects and Industry Development." Titanium Alloy Production Technology, Market Prospects and Industry Development. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015. "Titanium Leaching from Red Mud by Diluted Sulfuric Acid at Atmospheric Pressure." Titanium Leaching from Red Mud by Diluted Sulfuric Acid at Atmospheric Pressure. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.