First industrial scale mass balance data for the reengineered pedersen process developed within the EU funded project ENSUREAL

Within the following paper, a first mass balance for the revamped industrial Pedersen Process is presented. The target capacity is an alumina output of 500,000 t per year, which is considered a comparable volume to the Bayer Process. The model was carried out using the commercially available HSC software tool from Outotec and consists of three main parts: smelter, hydromet and calcination. Special focus is given to the hydromet section. The volumes that must be handled within the hydromet part are in the range of several thousand cubic meters per hour and therefore will have a significant impact on the footprint of the industrial
plant. A solid mass balance model of the Pedersen Process is a valuable tool for ongoing and future optimization of the new industrial-scale Pedersen process within the ENSUREAL project.