Furnace smelting and extractive metallurgy of red mud: recovery of TiO2, Al2O3 and pig iron

Turkish red mud (bauxite waste) has been mixed with dolomite and coke, pelletized and sintered at 1100°C, and finally smelted at 1550°C to produce pig iron and a slag. The slag was leached with 30% H2SO4 at 90°C. The leachate was diluted, ferric iron was reduced with SO2, and extracted with 5% D2EHPA solution in kerosene. Silica and Al2O3 were recovered from the remaining aqueous solution, while the organic extract was stripped with 10% Na2CO3 solution, finally hydrolysed and calcined to produce pigment-grade TiO2. The titanium recovery efficiency on the basis of slag weight was 84·7%. The extractive separation of titanium from both valencies of iron was investigated as a function of pH and time. A stoichiometric flowsheet for the whole process has been developed.