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ADVANCED CHARACTERISATION OF BAUXITE RESIDUE

Peng, H. Vaughan, J. Staker, W. Wang, J. Wen, W.

Bauxite residue is the solid waste produced in the extraction of alumina from bauxite using the Bayer process. Questions on how to manage and utilise bauxite residue have been the subject of considerable research by both institutes and industry. Despite these efforts, efficient recovery of valuable components is difficult to achieve, partly due to the fine and complex nature of the material. In this study, we investigate the mineral phases present and particle morphology using advanced tools such as synchrotron XRD, UV-Raman, SEMEDS elemental mapping and high resolution TEM. The results show that the main crystal phases (sodalite, hematite and anatase) are highly associated with each other and that the crystal sizes can be extremely fine, on the order of 20 nm. Valuable minor elements such as Sc, Ga, and V are associated with all major phases based on the SEM-EDS mapping due to the fine size of bauxite residue particles (D50 < 2 μm).