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Red mud or red sludge is a toxic waste product of the Bayer process, the principal industrial means of refining bauxite in order to provide alumina as raw material for the electrolysis of aluminium by the Hall–Héroult process. A typical plant produces one to two times as much red mud as alumina. This ratio is dependent on the type of bauxite used in the refining process.

Red mud is composed of a mixture of solid and metallic oxide-bearing impurities, and presents one of the aluminium industry's most important disposal problems. The red colour is caused by the oxidised iron present, which can make up to 60% of the mass of the red mud. In addition to iron, the other dominant particles include silica, unleached residual aluminium, and titanium oxide.

Red mud cannot be disposed of easily. In most countries where red mud is produced, it is pumped into holding ponds. Red mud presents a problem as it takes up land area and can neither be built on nor farmed, even when dry. As a waste product of the Bayer process the mud is highly basic with a pH ranging from 10 to 13. Several methods are used to lower the alkaline pH to an acceptable level to decrease the impact on the environment. Research is being performed to find a suitable way to use the mud for other applications, but drying the mud requires much energy (latent heat for water evaporation) and can represent high costs if fossil fuels have to be used in the drying process.

Environmental hazards

In the event of improper disposal or willful discharge of red mud in rivers or lakes, there are fatal environmental hazards. The rain water run off from the red mud ponds increases river and stream water alkalinity which will convert lands into Alkali soils when used for irrigation purpose.

In October 2010, approximately one million cubic meters of red mud from an alumina plant near Kolontár in Hungary was accidentally released into the surrounding countryside in the Ajka alumina plant accident, killing ten people and contaminating a large area. All life in the Marcal river was said to have been "extinguished" by the red mud, and within days the mud had reached the Danube.

Powder generation

Vedanta Aluminium Ltd has commissioned a red mud powder producing unit at Lanjigarh refinery in Odisha, describing it as first of its kind in alumina industry tackling major environmental hazards.

See also

• Red mud spill
• Chemical waste
• Flash flood
• Mining

References

1. Kurniawan, TA.; Chan, GY.; Lo, WH.; Babel, S. (Aug 2006). "Comparisons of low-cost adsorbents for treating wastewaters laden with heavy metals". Sci Total Environ. 366 (2–3): 409–26. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.10.001. PMID 16300818.
2. ^ Schmitz, Christoph (2006). "Red Mud Disposal". Handbook of aluminium recycling. p. 18. ISBN 978-3-8027-2936-2.
3. ^ Chandra, Satish (1996-12-31). "Red Mud Utilization". Waste materials used in concrete manufacturing. pp. 292–295. ISBN 978-0-8155-1393-3.
4. ^ Mining, Society for; Metallurgy,; ), Exploration (U.S (2006-03-05). "Bauxite". Industrial minerals & rocks: commodities, markets, and uses. pp. 258–259. ISBN 978-0-87335-233-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
5. Mohan, D.; Pittman, CU. (Apr 2007). "Arsenic removal from water/wastewater using adsorbents--A critical review". J Hazard Mater. 142 (1–2): 1–53. doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2007.01.006. PMID 17324507.
6. Babel, S.; Kurniawan, TA. (Feb 2003). "Low-cost adsorbents for heavy metals uptake from contaminated water: a review". J Hazard Mater. 97 (1–3): 219–43. doi:10.1016/S0304-3894(02)00263-7. PMID 12573840.
7. "Toxic Red Sludge Spill From Hungarian Aluminum Plant 'An Ecological Disaster'", David Gura, NPR, October 5, 2010
8. "Hungarian chemical sludge spill reaches Danube". BBC. 7 October 2010.
9. "Vedanta commissions red mud powder plant in Odisha". Business Line. 19 November 2013.

External links

• Red Sludge (or Red Mud) at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)

• Waste
• Water pollution
• Soil contamination