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Alumina Process
Alumina Process
Bauxite and Alumina
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Alumina Process
Process:
1. DIGESTION OF BAUXITE
Grinding:
Pisolitic, monohydrate-grade bauxite sized to a maximum of 20mm, is ground in 10
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mills (each with one compartment of rods and one of balls) to allow better solid liquid
contact during digestion. Recycled caustic soda solution is added to produce a pump
able slurry, and lime is introduced for phosphate control and mud conditioning.
Desilication:
The silica component of the bauxite is chemically attacked by caustic soda, causing
alumina and soda losses by combining to form solid desilication products. To de
silicate the slurry prior to digestion, it is heated and held at atmospheric pressure in
pre-treatment tanks, reducing the build-up of scale in tanks and pipes. Most
desilication products pass out with the mud waste as sodium aluminium silicate
compounds.
Digestion:
The plant has three digestion units. The monohydrate slurry is pumped by high
pressure pumps through two agitated, vertical digester vessels operating in series.
Mixed with steam and caustic solution, alumina in the bauxite forms a concentrated
sodium aluminate solution leaving un dissolved impurities, principally inert iron and
titanium oxides and silica compounds. Reaction conditions to extract the
monohydrate alumina are about 250C and a pressure about 3500 kPa, achieved by
steam generated at 5000 kPa in coal-fired boilers.
By sizing the vessel to optimum holding time, about 97% of the total available
alumina is extracted and the silica content of liquor is reduced.
Heat Recovery:
After digestion about 30% of the bauxite mass remains in suspension as a thin red
mud slurry of silicates, and oxides of iron and titanium. The mud-laden liquor leaving
the digestion vessel is flash-cooled to atmospheric boiling point by flowing through a
series of flash vessels which operate at successively lower pressures.
The flash steam generated is used to preheat incoming caustic liquor in tubular heat
exchangers located parallel to the flash tank line. Condensate from the heat
exchangers is used for boiler feed water and washing waste mud.
Sweetening:
The tri hydrate bauxite has separate grinding and pre-treatment facilities. During the
pass through the flash tanks, this additional bauxite slurry with high tri hydrate
alumina content is injected to maximise the alumina content of the liquor stream. This
occurs in the appropriate flash vessels when the slurry from the digesters has been
cooled to less than 200C.
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Slaked lime is added to dilute caustic liquor in the washing process to remove
carbonate (Na2CO3) which forms by reaction with compounds in bauxite and also
from the atmosphere and which reduces the effectiveness of liquor to dissolve
alumina. Lime regenerates caustic soda, allowing the insoluble calcium carbonate to
be removed with the waste mud.
Crystallisation:
Dissolved alumina is recovered from the liquor by precipitation of crystals. Alumina
precipitates as the tri hydrate Al2O3 .3H2O in a reaction which is the reverse of the
digestion of tri hydrate 2NaAlO2 + 4H2O --> Al2O3.3H2O + 2 NaOH
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The cooled pregnant liquor flows to rows of precipitation tanks which are seeded with
crystalline tri hydrate alumina, usually of an intermediate or fine particle size to
promote crystal growth. Each precipitation tank is agitated, with a holding time of
about three hours. During the 25-30 hours pass through precipitation, alumina of
various crystal sizes is produced. The entry temperature and the temperature gradient
across the row, seed rate and caustic concentration are control variables used to
achieve the required particle size distribution in the product.
As correct particle size is important to smelter operations, sizing is carefully
controlled. The QAL precipitation plant was designed to operate on a continuous
basis to produce "sandy" or coarse alumina.
Classification:
The finished mix of crystal sizes is settled from the liquor stream and separated into
three size ranges in three stages "gravity" classification tanks. The primary classifiers
collect the coarse fraction which becomes the product hydrate. The intermediate and
fine crystals from the secondary and tertiary classifiers are washed and returned to
the precipitation tanks as seed.
Spent Liquor:
Spent caustic liquor essentially free from solid overflows from the tertiary classifiers
and is returned through an evaporation stage where it is re concentrated, heated and
recycled to dissolve more alumina in the digesters. Fresh caustic soda is added to
the stream to make up for process losses.
4. CALCINATION OF ALUMINA
Washing:
A slurry of coarse hydrate (Al2O3.3H2O) from the primary thickeners is pumped to
hydrate storage tanks and is filtered and washed on horizontal-table vacuum filters to
remove process liquor.
Calcining:
The resulting filter cake is fed to a series of calcining units - an 1800 tonnes a day
circulating fluidised bed calciner or one of nine rotary kilns each 100m long and 4m in
diameter. The feed material is calcined to remove both free moisture and chemicallycombined water. Firing-zone temperatures above 1100C are used, achieved by firing
with natural gas. The circulating fluidised bed calciner is more energy efficient than
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the older rotary kilns. Product sandy alumina particles are 90%+ 45 m (microns) in
size.
Cooling:
Rotary or satellite coolers are used to cool the calcined alumina from the rotary kilns,
and to pre-heat secondary combustion air for the kilns. Fluidised-bed coolers further
reduce alumina temperature to less than 90C before it is discharged on to conveyor
belts which carry it to storage buildings where it is stockpiled for shipment.
Reference:
Web site http://www.qal.com.au/
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