Recovery of iron and metal values from red mud possibilities in Indian scenario

Disposal of large quantities of red mud-an alkaline solid waste generated in alumina plants, poses problems of storage, land wastage and also not ecofriendly. Inspite of intensive R&D efforts for bulk utilization all over the world a very small quantity of mud could be economically utilized. The mud contains about fifteen mineralogical constituents, and chief among them being the iron bearing hemamtite composition, has invited the attention of all the process technologists for its economic extraction. During the course of characterisation of Indian Red Muds at JNARDDC, it has been found that the Red Mud generated from the east coast bauxites contains large quantity of iron bearing constituents which can be subjected to the large scale iron recovery in future. This can solve the Red Mud disposal aspect of alumina production. In this paper the methods available for extraction of iron values are outlined and the possibility of using any suitable option in commercial scale is discussed.