Review of Technologies in the Recovery of Iron, Aluminium, Titanium and Rare Earth Elements from Bauxite Residue (Red Mud)

Bauxite residue (BR), also known as red mud (RM), is the main waste product of the Bayer process in producing alumina from bauxite ores and is currently being managed via stockpiling, storage within settling pond and landfilling. However, these approaches are disadvantageous in terms of potential risk for the environment and the processing of RM as raw material brings about its own challenges. In recent years, research has been focused on the reuse of RM and the recovery of metals to transform the waste into a more viable secondary source of raw materials. This paper will further explore and thoroughly review technologies and processing techniques that have been previously available as well as ones that are currently being developed. The scope of this paper will be focused on iron, aluminium, titanium and rare earths.