3.1. Direct Acid Digestion
Karimi et al. [
45] studied the efficiency of red mud dissolution in hydrochloric, nitric, sulfuric, and phosphoric acids, and in their mixtures, in the presence and in the absence of hydrofluoric acid. The experiments were carried out at 85 °C, stirring time of 120 min, and liquid-to-solid ratio of 20 mL/g. The dissolution efficiency of red mud in three N acid solutions was 79.35% for HCl, 46.21% for H
2SO
4, 79.70% for HNO
3, and 41.33% for H
3PO
4. The highest dissolution degree of red mud was 80.37%, which was obtained by leaching using the mixture of HCl:HNO
3 1:1 in the presence of 3 wt.% of HF. This research showed that a single acid alone cannot fully decompose red mud at atmospheric conditions. Accordingly, direct acid leaching only enables extraction of some elements from red mud.
Reid et al. [
46] compared application of different acids for leaching of REEs from Canadian red mud at atmospheric pressure. HCl, HNO
3, and H
2SO
4 were used at various leaching conditions in the ranges of acid concentration from 0.5 to 3 M and temperature from 25 to 90 °C for 30 min. Systematic experiments have indicated that nitric acid is the most effective for REE recovery. However, taking into account the cost, practical consideration of the process with application of volatile reagent, and its efficiency, 1.5 M H
2SO
4 at 90 °C was chosen as the best leaching condition. The maximum recovery of Ce, La, Nd, and Sc was at the S/L ratio of 1/15. Microwave pretreatment tests of red mud to increase the recovery of REEs showed that the pretreatment leads to the formation of cracks and pores in the particles, which enables the leaching agent to diffuse into the interior of the particle, and therefore facilitates the dissolution of REEs. As a result, the recovery degrees of Sc and Nd were increased from 40.0% to 64.2%, and from 54.3% to 78.7%, respectively.
Lim and Shon [
47] investigated the influence of ultrasonic waves on the process of sulfuric acid leaching of titanium from red mud. The recovery degrees of iron, aluminum, and titanium increased with an increase in ultrasonic power output, leaching temperature, and acid concentration, but decreased with an increase in S/L ratio. The recovery rates of iron, aluminum, and titanium were 48.22%, 72.94%, and 88.95%, respectively, using the following optimal conditions: ultrasonic power of 150 W, H
2SO
4 concentration of 6 M, leaching at temperature of 70 °C for 2 h at an S/L ratio of 2/100. The significant S/L ratio was used to prevent silica gel formation. The REE behavior was outside the scope of the research.
Ochsenkuehn-Petropoulou et al. [
48] also found that the application of sulfuric acid for selective recovery of scandium is more appropriate compared with hydrochloric and nitric acids, and with aqua regia. Experiments conducted under wide ranges of temperature and concentration showed that leaching by 2 M H
2SO
4 at 80 °C for 60 min with an S/L ratio of 1/20 was optimal, and resulted in Sc recovery of about 50%. High pressure acid leaching at 220 °C, in addition to acid concentration rise, led to a significant increase in iron dissolution. High-temperature conditions contributed to the optimal selectivity of scandium recovery with respect to iron and excluded the formation of silica gel, which substantially hinders the separation of the target solution from the residue.
Xie et al. [
49] studied the effect of red mud particle size on the recovery of aluminum and iron by hydrochloric acid leaching at varying acid concentrations, S/L ratios, and durations. The optimal leaching conditions, which led to dissolution of 96.7% Al and 95.1% Fe, for red mud with a particle size of 150 microns were as follows: temperature of 80 °C, duration of 150 min, HCl concentration of 10 M, and S/L ratio of 1/8.
Zhao et al. [
50] investigated leaching of bauxite reaction residue (BRR) by hydrochloric acid. It was found that direct acid leaching at optimal conditions, namely acid concentration of 8 M, L/S 5:1, leaching temperature of 85 °C, and leaching time of 3 h, can pass into solution only 44.15% Al, 38% Fe, 42%Ca, and 12% Ti. After removal of 81.21% Si from BRR by 3 M NaOH solution at 75 °C for 2 h and a 5:1 L/S ratio, the aluminum leaching rate only increased by 5.05%. Preliminary mechanical activation treatment for 10 h also led to only 46% Al being passed into solution. To increase aluminum dissolution efficiency, high-pressure acid leaching was used. After 10 h milling pretreatment and high-pressure red mud leaching at 210 °C, dissolution degrees of Al, Ca, Fe, and Ti were 84.23%, 73%, 43% and 15%, respectively. A study on kinetics of high-pressure aluminum dissolution determined that the apparent activation energy of the process was 20.82 kJ/mol, which corresponds to a liquid diffusion rate-controlling process. It showed that a liquid poly-aluminum chloride solution for water treatment can be prepared from the obtained solution. The developed process can be used for red mud treatment after the removal of iron.
The complex hydrochloric acid leaching process developed by Orbite aluminate Inc. [
51] allows extraction of more than 90% of valuable elements from red mud, including REEs. The process consists of several stages. The initial stage is high-pressure acid leaching of red mud at 150–170 °C with dissolution of almost all elements except Si and Ti, followed by HCl gas treatment of leached solution for AlCl
3·6H
2O precipitation. The roasting of the obtained AlCl
3·6H
2O at 900–950 °C allows production of Al
2O
3; the off-gas can be returned to the precipitation stage. After Al removal, the solution heats up to 180 °C for Fe
2O
3 formation after Mg recovery by precipitation and calcination. To recover REEs from the solution, solvent extraction was proposed.
A statistical analysis of experimental data [
52] indicated that concentration of the sulfuric acid solution used, in addition to the process temperature, have the greatest influence on titanium leaching efficiency from red mud. In addition, two-factor conditions—acid concentration and temperature, or acid concentration and S/L ratio—were also statistically significant; thus, the leaching efficiency can be considered to be dependent not only on one, but on several process parameters. The "best" model of the parameters with recovery of 64.5% Ti was obtained for the leaching by 6 N H
2SO
4 for 4 h at a temperature of 60 °C, S/L ratio of 5%, and fixed stirring speed of 700 rpm. The use of concentrated sulfuric acid solution resulted in dissolution of 46% Fe and 37% Al in addition to titanium. The main phases of the insoluble residue were anhydrite (CaSO
4), bassanite (CaSO
4∙0.5H
2O), and various hydrated aluminum sulfates, whereas, taking into account experimental conditions, the existence of unreacted gibbsite (Al(OH)
3) and diaspore (AlO(OH)) in the sulfate residue appears to be doubtful.
Lymperopoulou et al. [
53] investigated leaching of iron and scandium from red mud by sulfuric acid using a statistical analysis of the obtained data using the Taguchi method. In the experiments the following ranges of the parameters were used: acid concentration of 1–6 M, S/L ratio of 10–30%, temperature of 25–85 °C, and leaching time of 1–7 h. The analysis indicated that the most important factors were S/L ratio and temperature for scandium recovery, and mainly temperature for iron recovery. The optimized leaching conditions for Sc recovery were as follows: 6M H
2SO
4, 85 °C, 30% S/L ratio, 4 h; the conditions for Fe recovery were as follows: 2M H
2SO
4, 25 °C, 10% S/L ratio, 1 h.
Alkan et al. [
54] derived a more efficient application of sulfuric acid for leaching compared with hydrochloric acid or their mixture in terms of titanium recovery from red mud. After 2 h red mud treatment by 4 M H
2SO
4 solution at 70 °C and S/L ratio of 1/50, the recovery of titanium was 67.3%, which was the highest among all used lixiviants. The application of 4 M HCl and a combination of the two acids in the ratio of HCl to H
2SO
4 of 1:3 led to titanium recovery degrees of 59.8% and 56.4%, respectively, which were slightly lower.
Shoppert and Loginova [
55] suggested a method of sequential processing of red mud by diluted solutions of hydrochloric and sulfuric acids to obtain a titanium-containing concentrate. In the first stage, Ca, Na, Al, Si and K were removed from red mud by the treatment using HCl solution of pH = 3 at 25 °C for 1 h. In the second stage, the residue enriched in titanium and iron was leached by H
2SO
4 solution. The optimal conditions for the separation of iron from titanium were determined by factorial design. Dissolution of iron with titanium recovery up to 6% was carried out using H
2SO
4 solution of 80 g/L at an S/L ratio of 1/20 and 50 °C for 90 min. The insoluble perovskite residue contained 46.7% titanium.
It is known that silicon dioxide polymerization with the formation of silica gel significantly impedes the filtration rate of the leachates, and this effect is particularly profound with the use of 1–3 M H
2SO
4 solutions [
56]. Alkan et al. [
57] studied a silicagel formation rate in the process of direct sulfuric acid leaching of red mud, in addition to slags obtained by its reduction smelting at 1500–1550 °C in the presence of the fluxes, silicon oxide, or lime. Acidic slag contained 1.4% Fe
2O
3, 15.3% CaO, and 38% SiO
2; basic slag included 1.4% Fe
2O
3, 43.2% CaO, and 7.6% SiO
2. In all cases, the leaching by 2.5 M H
2SO
4 solution at 75 °C and S/L ratio of 1/10 for 1 h formed a stable silica gel, and for acid slag at the highest rate. The preliminary sulfating of dry red mud or slags by 97% H
2SO
4 at 75 °C followed by water leaching contributed to a significant suppression of silica gel formation. The treatment of acidic slag by this method showed that it is possible to achieve the most efficient recovery of about 70% Sc with a simultaneous insignificant dissolution of Ti (<10%) and Si (<3%).
Alkan et al. [
58] proposed an application of a mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide to increase the efficiency and selectivity of titanium and scandium recovery. A parametric study demonstrated that H
2O
2 addition suppresses silica gel formation, decreases iron dissolution, increases titanium recovery degree due to the formation of soluble titanium peroxosulfate, and negligibly affects solubility of other red mud components. The leaching by the mixture of 2.5 M H
2O
2 and 2.5 M H
2SO
4 at 90 °C and an S/L ratio of 1/10 for 30 min resulted in the recovery of 68% Sc and 91% Ti; the yield of Fe and Al in the sulfuric acid solution was 23% and 43%, respectively.
Some authors [
59,
60] have attempted to combine pyro- and hydrometallurgical methods aimed to reduce and remove iron in metallic form from the process, because, due to significant iron content compared to REEs both in red mud and in leached solutions, it is the main hindering factor for the separation and subsequent processing of the solutions. However, leaching of the slags from reduction smelting, which can be essentially considered REE preconcentrates, is complicated. To increase the solubility of the slags, their composition can be adjusted during the smelting process depending on the composition of red mud and the lixiviant used.
Yagmurlu et al. [
59] tested six slag samples for selective recovery of REEs that were obtained by reduction smelting of red mud with fluxes, lime, or silica, at different rates of cooling rates, water quenching, or slow cooling. demonstrates the chemical composition of red mud and the slags.
Table 2. Chemical composition of red mud and the slag samples from reduction smelting analyzed by [
59], wt.%. (reproduced from Ref. [
59]).
Sample |
Fe2O3 |
Al2O3 |
CaO |
SiO2 |
TiO2 |
Sc (mg/kg) |
Bauxite residue |
43.5 |
24 |
10.2 |
5.5 |
5.6 |
120 |
Basic slag |
1.8 |
38.3 |
43.2 |
7.6 |
7.6 |
170 |
Neutral slag |
1.5 |
39.8 |
29.9 |
22.0 |
7.4 |
170 |
Acidic slag |
1.2 |
36.8 |
15.3 |
38 |
7.3 |
170 |
A kinetic study of REE leaching from different slags using the mixture of 2.5 M H2SO4 and 2.5 M H2O2 was carried out at 75 °C and S/L ratio of 1/10. It showed that both slag composition and cooling rate affect REE recovery. The best results were found for the quenched basic slag with recovery of 97% Sc and 95% Ti in solution without the formation of silica gel. Scandium phosphate concentrate with 85% total scandium recovery from red mud was precipitated from the obtained solution by a three-stage treatment using a solution of ammonia and ammonium hydrogen phosphate (NH4)2HPO4.
Rivera et al. [
60] studied high-pressure acid leaching of REEs by HCl and H
2SO
4 at elevated temperatures from the slags obtained by reduction smelting of red mud. Six types of slags were obtained using the different fluxes, lime or silica, and the cooling rate, water quenching, or slow cooling. presents the chemical compositions of red mud and the slag samples.
Table 3. Chemical composition of red mud and the slag samples * from reduction smelting analyzed by [
60], where slag I was obtained by 20% CaO addition, and slags II and III were obtained by CaO and SiO
2 addition, respectively, wt.%. (reproduced from Ref. [
60]).
Element |
Bauxite Residue |
Slag I.FC |
Slag I.SC |
Slag II.FC |
Slag II.SC |
Slag III.FC |
Slag III.SC |
Al |
9.6 |
20.2 |
20.0 |
16.9 |
17.8 |
19.3 |
19.1 |
Ca |
6.1 |
27.2 |
27.1 |
17.7 |
15.9 |
16.9 |
16.3 |
Si |
3.4 |
4.6 |
4.7 |
11.8 |
12.3 |
10.4 |
10.1 |
Ti |
3.5 |
5.2 |
5.5 |
6.1 |
5.4 |
5.5 |
5.2 |
Na |
2.1 |
1.8 |
0.9 |
2.2 |
2.0 |
2.1 |
2.3 |
Fe |
32.7 |
1.5 |
2.5 |
2.0 |
2.4 |
2.5 |
3.7 |
After leaching of the slowly cooled slag III by 3 N H
2SO
4 solution at 150 °C, selective recovery of above 95% Sc occurred due to the formation of double sulfates [
40], whereas the recovery of other REEs was about 20%. In addition, leaching of the quenched slag II by 3 N HCl solution at 120 °C led to the recovery of over 90% Y, La, and Nd, and of 80% Sc. The dissolution degree of Ti and Si under the optimal conditions was up to 5%, and over 60% Fe and 90% Al passed into solution. A cost-benefit evaluation of the high-pressure acid leaching process is required.
Acid leaching can be used in combination with physical beneficiation methods of raw materials, such as hydrocyclone processing followed by drying [
61]. This treatment increased the contents in the separated fraction of La by 19%, Ce by 23%, and Sc by 7%, and decreased Fe content by 22%. It also contributed to minimizing total recovery of iron and increased leaching degree of REEs. Leaching of fine hydrocyclone beneficiated fraction by 2 M H
2SO
4 solution at 95–100 °C, pH = 4 and S/L ratio of 1/10 for 2 h increased Sc recovery by 15%, La by 16%, and Ce by 9% compared with original red mud, whereas Fe content in the solution was decreased from 4.9% to 2.2%.
Guo et al. [
62] proposed the preliminary calcination process of a mixture of red mud and fly ash from coal-fired power plants in the presence of sodium carbonate in the temperature range of 600–900 °C for 2 h followed by acid leaching. Leaching of the calcine, which was obtained by roasting at 850 °C the mixture of 100 g of the ash and 106.4 g of red mud, by 6 M HCl solution and boiling for 2 h led, to the dissolution of above 90% of alumina.
Kashcheev et al. [
63] suggested an improved sulfuric acid method for red mud processing using ammonium sulfate as a leaching agent. A comparative assessment of leaching characteristics of ammonium sulfate and sulfuric acid showed that they are equal in terms of their efficiency of the dissolution of sodium, calcium, iron, and aluminum. In the first stage, the boiling treatment by 8.45% (NH
4)
2SO
4 solution at S/L ratio of 1/14 for 30 min extracted 95% Na and no more than 13–17% Al and Fe, thereby decreasing red mud weight by 23%. In the second stage, when the reagent concentration was increased to 58.7% and the volume of the solution to the S/L ratio was 1/30, boiling for 60 min led to dissolution of 77.2% Al, 78.6% Ca, 60.25% Fe, 95.7% La, 71.0% Sc, and 86.5% Y. Then, hydroxides of aluminum, iron, and alkaline-earth metals with an admixture of REEs were precipitated by sequential neutralization to obtain a solution of ammonium and alkali metal sulfates. In the final residue, titanium and silicon compounds, in addition to calcium sulfate, were concentrated. It is the authors’ opinion that the advantage of this technology compared with sulfuric acid leaching is a lower cost of ammonium sulfate, which is used as a lixiviant. Other important advantages are the possibility of obtaining a neutralizing reagent, ammonia, during the regeneration of ammonium hydrosulfate, in addition to environmental compatibility, high productivity due to better filtration characteristics of the solutions, etc.
The extraction of valuable elements from red mud by direct acid leaching is a well-studied method. The use of sulfuric and hydrochloric acids as leaching agents is most promising for industrial application due to their wide application and low cost. Nevertheless, these methods have several disadvantages, such as high dissolution of iron, silica gel formation, the need for the use of a high temperature, leaching duration, acid concentration, and pressure or preliminary roasting to increase the recovery degree. A significant interest for industrial application exists in the Orbite process [
51], which allows extraction of valuable elements from red mud with the acquisition of high-grade alumina. However, using high pressure avoids the formation of silica gel and leads to the high dissolution of iron, which is the main hindering factor for the subsequent extraction of REEs from the solutions. Although dissolution of iron can be decreased by the use of a mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide [
58], its concentration in the solution remains too high, so the most promising means of decreasing iron content in the solution is preliminary extraction by pyrometallurgical methods. Using ammonium sulfate as a leaching agent for the extraction of valuable elements from red mud is a new and prospective but poorly studied method.
3.2. Scandium Recovery by Sulfation Method
Scandium is among the most important rare-earth elements in red mud because its price is about 90% of the total price of all REEs contained in this waste. Red mud contains scandium and other REEs in various mineral forms. Scandium is mainly present as an impurity of hematite or goethite that substitutes Fe
3+ and Al
3+ [
64]. A portion of scandium is in silicon-rich minerals such as quartz or zeolite. Unlike other REEs, individual scandium mineral particles have not been detected. Particles containing REEs also consist of titanium and iron, therefore, they are called REE ferrotitanates [
65]. The REE distribution varies significantly depending on the origin of red mud. For example, in Greek red mud, 65% of scandium is present in an easily extractable form on the surface of red mud particles, but Russian red mud from Ural aluminum plants contains a smaller amount of scandium in chamosite.
One of the most widely studied and simple acid methods for the recovery of REEs, particularly scandium, from red mud is the sulfation method, which is the roasting of red mud with concentrated sulfuric acid at an S/L ratio close to 1 to convert scandium minerals into water-soluble sulfates followed by water leaching [
66]. This method makes it possible to recover scandium selectively without silica gel formation. The advantage of this method is the possibility to process and reuse some products that are formed during thermal decomposition of the acid and during the roasting, namely SO
2, SO
3, NaFe(SO
4)
2, and NaAl(SO
4)
2, as raw materials for regeneration of sulfuric acid [
67].
Meng et al. [
68] studied the process of red mud sulfation by the treatment of its aqueous emulsion using concentrated H
2SO
4 at an S/L ratio of 2/1 followed by heating in a muffle furnace up to the required temperature and holding for 30 min. As a result, metal oxides in red mud were converted into highly soluble sulfates, and silicon was polymerized and transformed into an insoluble macromolecular form of silicic acid. An increase in roasting temperature led to the decomposition of titanium, iron (III), and aluminum sulfates into corresponding oxides. The maximum recovery degree of scandium sulfate from red mud was 96.5%, which was obtained by the leaching of the sample roasted at 750 °C for 60 min. An increase in the roasting temperature up to 850 °C led to a decrease in the solubility of scandium sulfate to about 90% due to its partial decomposition to hardly soluble oxide. However, it contributed to significantly better scandium selective recovery due to lower dissolution of titanium, iron (III), and aluminum, which also dissociated during the roasting from sulfates into oxides, but at lower temperatures of 544 °C, 683 °C, and 716.6 °C, respectively.
Liu et al. [
69] showed that sodium can have an inhibitory effect on the release of SO
2 or SO
3 from metal sulfates during the roasting of red mud with concentrated sulfuric acid, and an excess of the acid over 1 mL/g has no growth effect on Sc and Na leaching. The optimal treatment conditions were chosen as follows: roasting temperature of 750 °C, roasting duration of 40 min, liquid-to-solid ratio of 10 mL/g, leaching temperature of 65 °C, leaching time of 30 min, and stirring speed of 250 rpm. The roasting and leaching under these conditions extracted over 95% Na and about 60% Sc in the presence of the obtained solution of 7% Al, 29% Ca, and 3% Si, in addition to Fe, Ti
4+, and Ga
3+ in inconsequential amounts.
Roasting of the mixture of Chinese red mud and sulfuric acid with S/L ratio of 1 g/mL at 750 °C for 40 min and subsequent water leaching at 50 °C for 30 min contributed to the dissolution of about 53% Sc, 30.3%, Ca, and 8.9% Al, in addition to less than 1.0% Fe and 0.3% Si. A roasting temperature rise up to 760 °C led to a drop in recovery degree of Sc to 49.5%, Fe to 0.1%, Si to 0.2%, Ca to 27.0%, and Al to 1.6%. According to the authors [
66], scandium after roasting was in the form of complex sulfate Na
3Sc(SO
4)
3.
Narayanan et al. [
70] indicated that scandium and other REEs can be easily separated by a precipitation from the sulfate leaching solution obtained by red mud processing. Sulfation was carried out by the treatment of red mud using 80% H
2SO
4 at 120 °C for 14 h, followed by calcination at 700 °C for 1 h. Mixtures of REE oxides were sequentially precipitated from the leached sulfate solution by the addition of sodium hydroxide at pH = 8; scandium was deposited as scandium oxalate by the addition of oxalic acid followed by calcination at 800 °C for 1 h to obtain a pure oxide. The recovery degree of scandium by this method was 75%.
Alkan et al. [
57] extracted scandium from the slags that were obtained by reduction smelting of red mud with the addition of lime and silica. Slags with a weight of 13 g were mixed with 5, 10, and 15 mL of concentrated sulfuric acid (97% H
2SO
4) and 5 mL of deionized water, then the samples were held at 75 °C for 1 h in a furnace. After the treatment of the silicic slag, about 70% Sc, less than 10% Ti, and 3% Si passed into solution without silica gel formation.
Rivera et al. [
52] investigated REE recovery from red mud by a multistage treatment using hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, followed by water leaching. The recovery of Si, Al, Fe, Sc, Y, La, and Nd into the solution was studied depending on the amount of acid and number of treatment cycles. Sulfating with 95–97% sulfuric acid for 24 h with H
2SO
4 consumption of 412 g/kg of red mud and subsequent water leaching of the roasted sample for 24 h at 25 °C and S/L ratio of 1/5 led to dissolution of 2.5% Si, 30% Al, 22% Ti, 3% Fe, 22% Sc, 12% Y, 11% La, and 11% Nd. Treatment by 37% HCl with following water leaching under the same conditions caused the dissolution of the main macrocomponents to decrease slightly, but dissolution of REE increased; thus, 28% Al, 2% Ti, 3% Fe, 29% Sc, 44% Y, 25% La, and 28% Nd passed into solution at HCl consumption of 788 g/kg. A 4–9-fold increase in recovery degree of the components following a decrease in water consumption by 50–60% was achieved by five treatment cycles. Taking into account the price of scandium oxide for December 2017, the preliminary evaluation showed that the estimated profit margin of the technology with multistage leaching by HCl is 531 USD per tonne of red mud, whereas for leaching by H
2SO
4, profit is 563 USD per tonne of red mud.
The use of sulfation roasting and water leaching leads to selective extraction of more than 60% Sc from red mud without a significant dissolution of iron, titanium, and silica gel formation [
69]. This method can be applied only for the extraction of Sc and has industrial potential due to high scandium prices. However, due to the large amount of accumulated red mud and low Sc content in it, this method can be used only as a part of a complex treatment of red mud with extraction of major valuable elements such as Fe, Al, and Ti.
Generally, it should be noted that an application of acid methods is a promising approach for red mud processing, and enables extraction of almost all elements, including small amounts of scandium and other REEs. The main disadvantages of these methods are the need for acid-resistant equipment and low selectivity. This necessitates development of multistage technologies that are difficult to practically implement.